Family by Choice
by casbuddy
Summary: Family is not derived by the sharing of blood, but by the sheer power of choice alone. Anyone who says otherwise is a dumbass.
1. Elbow Pads are Hot in the Court of Law

_So, this originally started from a prompt I got on tumblr (by hopkins8) that was just meant to be a short ficlet. The short ficlet then accidentally became a long fic because I desperately needed to carry on writing in this verse and I didn't want to say goodbye to Oliver Mulligan just yet (hopefully you will understand when you read the first chapter)._  
_I can't promise super regular updates; I'm unsure as to the times between each new chapter, but I will try and update as often as I can! I will try and ensure that I tag warnings appropriately in future chapters._  
_Happy reading!_

**Family**

ˈfamɪli,-m(ə)l-/

_noun_

noun: **family**; plural noun: **families**

_a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit; a group of people related by blood or marriage._

_It is not derived by the sharing of blood, but by the sheer power of choice alone._

* * *

Dean was in the middle of tapping away at the keyboard when the door opened to interrupt him, making him nearly jump out of his seat. A guy he'd never seen before was standing in the doorway awkwardly, obviously noting Dean's surprise and slight confusion.

"I'm-" the guy started to say, eyes wide, and Dean could see even from this far away how fucking blue they were, "I'm here for the Mulligan case."

"Oh?" Dean asked, still not quite getting it. He seemed to remember that he had an appointment about that today, but he couldn't for the life of him remember _who _it actually was with.

"I'm Castiel Novak, Oliver's social worker," the guy added, gesturing behind him, "Your secretary told me to come right through-"

"Oh, right," Dean finally understood, "Come in. Sorry, I've been having one of those long days, y'know, where you lose like 50 IQ points," he grinned tiredly, realising that he perhaps wasn't giving the best first impressions right about now, "Sit, please."

Castiel nodded and shut the door behind him. Dean gave him a quick glance, trying to figure out the guy in the few seconds it took him to sit down in his chair; Dean had always been one to try and know what kind of conversation he was going to get stuck in, whether it be with a social worker that didn't give a shit (which he'd had a fair amount of; those that only turned up because they had to rather than because they wanted to for the sake of the kid) or one of those that cared _too _much and tried to tell Dean how to do his damn job.

Castiel didn't seem like either of those and he also didn't look like he was going to cause Dean any bother or be insufferable. He just looked like a normal, albeit attractive, guy who was here to do his job. And when Dean said he was attractive, he wasn't exaggerating. Sure, Dean hadn't been on a date in a good while because he was 'married' to his job or whatever his family and friends always told him, but Dean knew a good looking guy when he saw one. And Cas was most definitely one of them.

Dark messy hair topped off the guy, followed by those bright blue eyes that Dean knew he could easily get sucked into. Clothes wise, he was wearing a shirt and sweater combo and Dean suppressed the urge to drool when he saw that the sweater had elbow pads. He didn't know why, but he'd always had a thing for elbow pads, it was one of the reasons why he'd became a lawyer in the first place, to get a chance at being around all the hot guys wearing cute office sweaters… Okay, it hadn't been one of the reasons why he'd chosen this life altering path, but it was definitely a perk.

Fuck, _focus. _Dean wasn't on a fucking date, he was in a business meeting. Jesus, he really needed to get laid. And he needed for hot people to not come into his office; that would be good too.

"So, uh," Dean coughed, putting himself back into his professional mode. He wasn't a dick after all, he could still work like a normal being even though he was in the presence of a hot guy, it wasn't like it was fucking difficult to put that aside while business was being done, "How's the kid doing?"

Castiel sighed, his shoulders drooping, "Not very well," he admitted.

"Problem with these kind of cases," Dean shrugged, shutting down the document he'd been typing on, "the kids always get the raw end of the deal," he'd been working this job for far too long to know that that was the saddening truth, "I think it's worse for the older ones, the ones who can understand what's going on," he looked at Castiel and raised an eyebrow, "How old is he?"

"Fourteen," Castiel replied, still looking troubled at the fact that one of the kids he was having to look out and be responsible for was having such a hard time. Cas' distress actually made Dean feel better though, it showed that the dude cared and he wasn't just here for a nice fat pay cheque.

"Yeah," Dean nodded in understanding, "I can understand why he's not dealing with it all too well. Does he resent her or does he love her and think she's done nothing wrong?" he ran his tongue over his lips, "I'm not sure which one is worse for the kid to be honest."

Castiel scratched his wrist lightly, perhaps a nervous habit of his, "I think it's a strange combination of the two."

Dean winced, "Worse combination then," he turned to look back to his computer, tapping away to get the correct document up, "Is he with a foster family?"

Dean already knew that the kid didn't have a father, not one that had stuck around anyway. It often helped if at least one of the parents were actually half decent but, sadly for this kid, that wasn't the case.

"In a foster home at the moment," Castiel told him, "I'm going to be looking for foster families when I know the outcome of the trial because then I know whether it'll be temporary or more permanent. Though most foster families are temporary nowadays, especially with someone his age," Castiel sighed and Dean made a noise of sympathy as he typed it down. Again, with his job he knew all too well how difficult it could be to get foster families to foster anyone who was over the age that was regarded as 'cute'.

"For the trial," Castiel leaned forward on his seat, settling his hands on the busy desk, "Does he need to be there?"

"No," Dean shook his head, turning his attention back to Castiel's worried expression, "Seeing as he's a minor, it's probably for the best that he stays away and is the least involved in this as possible. But," Dean smiled, "It'd be good if we could get some kind of witness statement from him. I mean, she's not going on trial for her mothering skills but I know she wasn't a great one," he frowned, silently thanking the universe for giving him the great mother that he had himself instead of one that didn't give a shit, "A statement from the kid might influence the judge."

Castiel bit his bottom lip, frowning as he thought aloud, "I'm not sure whether he'll want to do that."

"Okay," Dean smiled encouragingly, "Just tell him that it's no pressure at all. If he wants to, he wants to, but if not, that's okay too. I have other evidence so-" Dean shrugged.

Castiel smiled back before it turned into an uneasy frown, "Realistically, how long do you think she'll get?"

"I'm pushing for twelve or thirteen," Dean replied truthfully, "But she'll probably only get eight or nine. Ten at most."

"And there's no chance of a suspended sentence?" Castiel asked, asking all the right questions he was supposed to, the guy was obviously good at his job.

"No," Dean snorted, "the defence attorney isn't _that _good."

"Right," Castiel nodded, eyes flicking to the left and right as he thought of something, "He'll be his own guardian by the time she finishes."

"Yeah," Dean agreed, "And it will probably do him some good. She's not good news and the kid is better off, even with foster families rather than with her."

"Yes, I know," Castiel agreed, though he didn't seem happy about it. Dean understood, kids should be with their parents, not strangers, and they especially shouldn't be thrust upon strangers so late into their life. But sometimes that was the way things had to go even though it sucked.

They finished off their meeting dealing with some of the small print of the trial and in Dean's relief, Cas seemed to understand it all and was nice and alert unlike some of the other social workers Dean had had to deal with in the past. Castiel left with the promise that he would contact him when he knew whether Oliver would want to write a statement or not.

Castiel kept to his promise and three days later, Dean got a phone call. It was in the middle of Dean's lunch break where he was catching up with everything that was going on in Sam's life, but Dean answered it all the same; it wasn't like he wasn't going to see Sam after work anyway, because Dean was going to his to have dinner with him and Jess (which Dean was looking forward to because his mother had recently taught Jess how to make awesome apple pies).

"Hey Cas," Dean smiled through the phone, momentarily wondering whether he should perhaps be using his last name instead because y'know, it would probably be more polite and professional. Shit.

"Hello Dean," Castiel replied, making Dean relax because the dude was using his first name too so that meant it was fine.

Dean ignored Sam's puzzled glance, "So, have you managed to talk to the kid yet?"

"Yes," Castiel told him, "It seems like he might do it, but he has a few questions and I thought- I don't want to be a bother, but I thought it would be best if he got the answers from you? I think it would make it easier for him to decide to go through with it."

"Sure, that wouldn't be a problem," Dean reached out for his planner, flipping through it as he tried to multitask, "Um, I'm free on Friday, it might be a bit of a squeeze but I can fit you guys in-"

"No Dean, I don't want to be a bother," Castiel interrupted him.

"No man, it's okay," Dean grabbed a pen and tapped it against the notepad, momentarily forgetting Sam's existence, "I want to sort everything out by the end of this week seeing as the trials in two weeks, maybe three if the defence attorney gets their way. I want it all sorted out so I know what case I'm putting forward and then I can focus on the bigger cases I have," he sighed as he looked at the wad of paperwork that still needed to be done. God, this week was going to be a long one.

"Okay, if you're sure," Castiel said, "So, Friday?"

"Yeah," Dean nodded, "I can fit you in just before lunch and then it doesn't matter if we go over a little cause the kids asking a lot. How about," Dean scribbled it down on his planner, "I'll talk to my secretary and just make sure I can fit it in, and then I'll call you when I know for sure?"

"Okay, that's fine," Castiel replied, sounding like he was smiling, "Thank you for doing this Dean. I know you're busy and the fact that you're making time for Oliver is extremely generous of you."

"It's okay," Dean shrugged, feeling himself smile, "I know that sometimes the kids don't get a say or know everything that's going on and I don't think that's fair, y'know?"

"Yes, I know," Castiel agreed and there was something in his tone that made Dean think that he perhaps knew all too well, "I'll leave you to it and I'll wait for your call. Thank you again Dean."

"Yeah, okay," Dean ducked his head down as he grinned, "I'll call you."

The both said goodbye before they hung up, Dean dropping his phone back into his pocket. He was pulled out of his happy daydreaming when he saw Sam's expression.

"What?" Dean asked, narrowing his eyes.

Sam huffed, "He has your phone number?"

"Yeah," Dean explained slowly, thinking that perhaps Sam had been hit on the head, "One of the cases I've got, there's a kid involved and he's the social worker of the kid."

"Okay," Sam nodded slowly, suddenly speaking as slowly as Dean had to him, like Dean was an idiot or something, "So why does he have your phone number?"

"Huh?" Dean crinkled his nose, lost in the conversation.

Sam bit back a smile, those annoying ones where he knew or noticed something you didn't, smiles that Dean had had to deal with his entire fucking life, "He has your cell number," Sam pointed at Dean's pocket, "Not your work phone."

Understanding washed over Dean, "Oh," he stumbled on his words as he tried to explain, "Yeah, but that's because I was waiting for him to call me about the kid and I needed to know quickly," he realised that was indeed, the worst excuse in the world and he promptly shut his mouth because there was no reason as to why Dean had given him his phone number. In fact, _Dean_ didn't even know why he'd really done it; Cas could have quite easily just left a message on Dean's work phone if Dean hadn't been here to pick it up. Hell, Inias would have picked it up for him and delivered the message to him, that's what secretaries did after all.

"Right," Sam said, though he sounded far from believing Dean's spiel, not that Dean blamed him for that, "And," Sam grinned knowingly, "You've got that look on your face."

"What?" Dean frowned, wondering when his nice lunch with his little brother had turned into Sam teasing him.

"You know, the look you do, when you go all gooey because you've found someone new that you like and want to settle down with and have five kids," Sam's grin widened maddeningly.

"What? No, I don't," Dean argued back, spluttering, "I don't have a look!"

"Sure you do," Sam replied with shrug, "Dean, I've been your brother for twenty seven freaking years, I _know _your looks."

No matter what Dean did, his stupid, annoying, younger brother still didn't relent. Even when it was dinner time and they were seated around Sam and Jess' dining table, Sam was still grinning knowingly. Dean was surprised at how he managed to fight every urge in his body that told him to pick up his filled plate and throw it as his smug looking face. Because Dean _didn't _have a look, he _didn't._

* * *

Friday came around quickly and Dean fiddled with his collar when Inias announced on the intercom that Mr Novak and Oliver Mulligan were here for their appointment. As soon as Dean realised what he was doing, he instantly stopped, just in case one of Sam's little spies were around who would go tell his little brother and only add fuel to the fire. It had been fucking days and still, Sam was teasing him.

Dean stood up as Castiel entered with Oliver, face stretching into a grin when he saw that this time Cas was in more casual wear, probably for the sake of the kid so as not to make him think that he was walking into some serious business conference. Today, Cas was wearing a simple pair of (tight) dark blue jeans, a plain grey t-shirt and a slightly oversized tweed jacket flung on top. And jesus, he looked good.

"Hey Cas," Dean looked over at the kid who was staring at him unnervingly, "Um, Mr Novak."

"You can call him Cas in front of me, that's what I call him," the boy pointed out, crossing his arms.

"Right," Dean nodded, grinning at Cas.

"Dean," Castiel smiled, gesturing to Oliver, "This is Oliver. Oliver, this is Dean Winchester, he's the lawyer I've been talking to you about."

Oliver stared at him coolly, like he was trying to figure Dean out. He looked his real age, perhaps a little older with the way he carried himself which wasn't a surprise to Dean, He guessed the kid had had to act a lot older than he was with the upbringing he had. He had dark hair that was a little similar to Cas', though it was black rather than a dark brown and seemed even more messier than Castiel's. His clothes were simple, a faded t-shirt with a band that Dean had never heard of, old jeans with black lace up boots to finish it off. He didn't have a jacket even though it was cold outside, either because he didn't own one or because he was trying to look like he didn't need one.

"You want to shake hands or are you too cool for that?" Dean half joked, already knowing the answer as soon as the boy's dark eyes bored holes into him, "Right," Dean gestured for the two of them to sit down on the plush chairs. He wasn't fazed by Oliver's non response, Dean had dealt with way worse a people than this kid.

"Oliver," Castiel hissed as all three of them sat down, "Be polite."

"I'm here aren't I?" Oliver replied, turning his gaze back to Dean. Castiel smiled apologetically at Dean and Dean smiled back to let him know it was fine.

"So, Cas told me you have some questions," Dean folded his arms on the table, the documents already up on the computer if he needed to look at them.

Oliver gave a quick glance at Cas who nodded at him encouragingly, telling Dean that even though Oliver seemed to act like he didn't have a care in the world, he still listened to Castiel and valued his advice, "You want me to write you a witness statement, right?"

"Yep," Dean nodded, "I'm not asking for an essay or anything like that though, don't worry."

Oliver crossed his arms tightly against himself, leaning back on his chair, "And my statement will help my mom go down for longer?"

Dean looked over at Cas who was watching the exchange nervously, "It-" Dean tried to use his words carefully, "Depending on what you write, it'll help the judge see what kind of a person your mother is, her overall personality. It could cause her to get more years," Dean replied honestly. He wasn't going to sugar coat it for the kid, that wasn't fair on him.

Oliver kept his eyes locked on Dean and asked up front, "What about if I wanted her to have less years? For my statement to do that?"

Dean looked over at Cas, not expecting the question. Cas seemed just as surprised, he hadn't been expecting it either. Cas shook his head at him, eyes wide, like he was unsure of what to say.

"Well," Dean said, shrugging, "Then you're talking to the wrong side kid."

Oliver nodded like he'd knew that all along, "So," he looked around the office with interested eyes, "You're the lawyer that's trying to put my mom in jail."

"Uh," Dean winced, "Yeah."

"What, you think you're god or something?" Oliver asked, raising a dark eyebrow challengingly, "That you get to decide who does and doesn't deserve to go to jail?"

"Oliver," Castiel reprimanded him, looking at Dean apologetically, "I'm sorry Dean."

"No, it's okay," Dean smoothed it over, not offended by it at all.

"What?" Oliver pulled a face, "I'm just asking, Cas," he scraped his thumb across his bottom lip, "That's what I'm here for, to ask questions."

"Not questions that insult him Oliver," Castiel reminded him with a frown.

"Fine," Oliver mumbled, sinking into his seat.

Dean looked from Oliver to Castiel and back again, "To answer your question," Dean couldn't help but smile, "No, I don't think I'm God. I just want to put the bad guys away."

Oliver's eyes snapped up to him, "You think my mom's one of the bad guys?" he countered.

Straight away, Dean sensed it was a test of some kind, even without the way Castiel stiffened in his seat and then started to fiddle with the hem of his jacket nervously. Dean knew that whatever his reaction was to Oliver's question would decide on whether or not Oliver would make a statement for him.

"I think," Dean smiled softly, "she's committed a crime so she has to take the punishment."

Oliver looked at him and while he could use his body language and all the expressions in the world to try and act like he didn't care, he couldn't control the emotions in his eyes. Dean could see the hurt in them, the betrayal of what his mother had caused. And Dean didn't blame him one bit for it.

The boy averted his gaze, pressing his lips tightly together before he gulped heavily. His shoulders turned slightly hunched and Dean spotted the way he turned his body a little away from both Cas and Dean as he thought for a while. Dean kept quiet, giving the kid some space; his whole world had turned upside down in the matter of two months, the kid deserved some time to think things out.

"So," Oliver spoke up, licking his lips nervously as he looked over the table at Dean, "How do I do this witness statement thing?"

Once they'd discussed it fully, what Oliver needed to write in the statement, what he didn't need to do, their little meeting came to a stop. Oliver clearly wanted to leave, standing up from his seat as he looked from Castiel to Dean.

Dean locked gazes with Castiel, wanting to speak some more but not wanting to do it in front of the kid, "Hey Oliver," he rummaged in his pockets, "There's a vending machine just around the corner, how about you go see if it's got anything you like. That okay, Cas?" he turned to Cas with a smile.

"Yes, that's fine," Cas nodded, eyes warm.

"Here," Dean handed over a five dollar note to Oliver.

Oliver only looked down at it and said with distaste, "I don't want charity."

Dean rolled his eyes, "Kid, its five dollars so you can get a candy bar, I don't think that quite categorises as charity."

Oliver kept his eyes on the money before he reached out and grabbed it, mumbling, "Thanks," as he walked out of the room to leave Cas and Dean to it.

"Turn right and you'll find it," Dean called out to him, grinning when Oliver simply raised a hand, back still turned from him, to signal that he'd heard.

"I like the kid," Dean announced, turning to Cas with a smile.

"Really?" Castiel blinked, looking confused, "Most people call him brash and rude, amongst other things," he blew out an irritated breath, clearly angered by the way people were treating the kid.

"Nah, I'm a lawyer," Dean squeezed Cas' shoulder, "I can tell the difference between a kid who's been dealt a shit card and an evil son of a bitch."

Castiel smiled at that, "He's a good kid," he looked in the direction that Oliver had walked off, "He just tries to hide a lot of it."

Dean bumped Cas' shoulder, "You're good at your job," at Cas' wide eyed expression he added, "Really good."

Castiel opened his mouth but nothing came out and he looked flustered as he bit his lip to try and hide a smile, "Uh," he recovered quickly, "I'll make sure Oliver writes the statement tonight," he hugged the papers to his chest, "I can fax it tomorrow."

"Thanks," Dean smiled appreciatively.

"Do you have everything ready for the trial?" Castiel questioned, fiddling with the papers in his hold.

"Yep, got everything covered I think," Dean nodded smoothly, "Can't wait to get it out of the way now though."

"It seems," Cas dipped his head to look Dean in the eye, amusement playing in his eyes, "Like you're good at your job too."

Just as Dean was about to reply, Oliver returned in the doorway, "Can I come in or have you guys not finished your special private talk?" he rolled his eyes.

"Come in," Dean laughed, "Did you find a candy bar that you like?"

"Yup," Oliver muttered before he took a massive bite out of the chocolate, mouth full.

Castiel looked mildly horrified at that but he turned back to Dean and managed a smile, "I shall see you at the trial."

"Yeah, okay," Dean grinned at the thought of Cas being there; he hadn't known whether he would be there or not and the idea of Cas getting to see him work made Dean part excited, part nervous, "See you then Cas," he looked over at Oliver, "See you Oliver."

"Yeah, see you," Oliver said distractedly but he gave Dean a small smile which Dean took as an accomplishment. The smile turned into a frown when Castiel stayed where he was, "God Cas, come on," he complained, tugging at Cas' sleeve, muttering something about heart eyes or some shit that Dean couldn't quite catch.

Cas managed to give Dean a quick wave goodbye before he was strutted off. Dean sat back down on his chair at his desk, looking at his computer screen that had switched off. In the reflection of the black screen, he realised he did indeed have a _look._

* * *

The trial went as planned and Carla Mulligan was sentenced to nine years in jail. It wasn't quite as long as Dean had hoped for, but it was long enough for him to be happy about it. The defence attorney seemed to be happy with the results too, she'd managed to cut some of the years off anyway. Dean thanked the judge, picked up his papers and made his way to greet Cas in the corridors. The guy was back to wearing more smart clothes, a grey suit this time and Dean grinned at the sight.

"Hey Cas," Dean quickly walked to him, loosening his tie a little.

Cas' face lightened when he realised Dean had appeared, "Hi," they moved away from the crowds, "You did a good job in there."

Dean flushed at the compliment, "Thanks," he licked his lips and pulled a pained expression, "How do you think the kid is going to take it?"

Castiel winced, body deflating tiredly, "I'm not sure."

"Hey Cas?" Dean laid a hand on Cas' shoulder, "If you ever need someone to talk to about the trial or any of the other shit you've got going on, call me okay? You've got my number."

Cas blinked at him, momentarily shocked at the offer before his face broke out into an appreciative smile, "Thank you Dean. And the same of course goes to you," he leaned in with a wry smile, "I can imagine that being a lawyer is rather stressful."

Dean snorted, "You bet your ass it is."

Castiel laughed at that, the weariness seeping away for a moment, "I-" he swallowed, "I should get back to work. There's lots of papers I need to fill out before school finishes and then I have to go see Oliver."

"Right, okay," Dean nodded, moving back away from Cas, "Um, good luck."

"Thank you," Castiel gave him one more glance, blue eyes bright and almost a little regretful, before he turned on his heel and walked down the corridor away from Dean.

Pathetically, Dean watched him go until he was no longer in sight.


	2. The Lost Boy

The Lost Boy

Honestly, Dean never expected to hear from the guy again, even though he _really_ wanted to. He couldn't have made that much of an effect on the guy, not like the guy had to him and it was fine, _no big deal_. It wasn't like Dean was thinking about him every second of the day or was hoping that by some miracle he'd accidentally walk into him on the street or anything. Dean wasn't that pathetic of course...

Okay, maybe he was.

Dean knew that he could quite easily pick up the phone himself, but he decided against it, no matter how many times Sam told him to (or all the other people Sam recruited to tell him the same) or how many times Sam complained that he kept pulling a wounded puppy look whenever he picked up his ringing phone to find that it wasn't Cas. Dean wasn't going to ring the guy and embarrass himself; it was fine, he was sure he'd forget about the guy at some point, even though it had been two weeks and he still hadn't gotten over the guy he'd only seen _three fucking times_.

When Castiel came bursting through his office door on a random afternoon, for a very short moment, Dean thought he may have actually turned so desperate and wanted Cas that badly he was imagining the guy. But Inias' panicked calls from his secretary desk told him otherwise.

Once Dean was over the shock, he instantly knew something was wrong. Well, it was kind of obvious, no one stormed into a room like that if everything was fine. And Cas, well, Cas looked awful, eyes wide with horror and face white as a fucking marble statue.

"Hey," Dean jumped up instantly and ran around his desk to prop Cas up, who looked like he was either going to faint or throw up, "What's wrong?"

"Oliver is missing," Castiel said quietly, like if he said it quiet enough it wouldn't be true.

"Shit," Dean felt himself go cold and if it weren't for the fact that he needed to keep Cas steady, he would be panicking right about now, "Okay," he reached over his desk and grabbed his coat that had his car keys in, "Let's get in my car and look for him then," he decided.

"There are already people looking for him and they haven't found him," he shook his head, looking close to tears, "_I've_ been looking and I haven't found him."

Dean cupped his jaw, forcing him to focus on him and nothing else, "Then we'll look harder. Another pair of eyes on the road looking for him makes it more likely that we'll find him. Hey," he tried to smile as comfortingly as possible, though his heart was hammering in his chest and he could feel the blood rushing in his ears, "We're going to find him."

"O-Okay," Castiel nodded, though he didn't sound like he believed it. Dean didn't blame him; right now, the worst kind of conclusions were coming into Dean's brain, he'd been a lawyer for too long and horrifying images of Oliver lying in a ditch somewhere were hot in his mind. _No, _they'd find him and he'd be okay, he'd be _fine._

"Come on," Dean held his coat in one hand, other arm wrapped around Cas' shoulders as he steered them out of his office, "Inias, cancel all my appointments for the afternoon. Any important ones, try and pass them onto my brother. Tell him I'm with Cas and it's an emergency."

He knew Sam wouldn't resent him for this, even with the small information he was telling Inias. And he knew that his little brother most definitely wouldn't be angry when he found out the whole story later on.

"But-" Inias tried to argue, looking bewildered.

"Just do it," Dean snapped, not intending to, but he couldn't help it. He needed to put all of his worry into something, he guessed.

"I'm sorry," Castiel babbled as they made their way to the elevator, "I shouldn't have come here, this isn't your problem."

"Hey, don't do that," Dean told him sharply, because no way did he think that Cas was in the wrong for coming to him for help. In fact, Dean was grateful he'd came to him- of course he wasn't grateful that the kid had gone missing, but he was thankful that he knew about it. He'd only met the kid once, but the idea of not knowing that he was missing when he could be doing something about it made Dean glad that he was guiding Cas to his car.

"I'm gonna drive, okay?" Dean asked, figuring that Cas wasn't exactly in the right condition to be driving. God knows how Cas had manged to drive to Dean's office in the mess he was in.

"Okay," Cas agreed, getting into the passenger seat shakily.

Now that Dean was behind the wheel, some of his panic started to subside and he turned calmer realising that the kid was probably holed up in some random ass building with some other kids. Kids ran away all the time and Oliver was just doing the same; it wasn't that shocking with some of the shit he'd had to deal with recently.

"So tell me what happened," Dean said as he drove them out of the parking lot.

"Oliver didn't turn up for school and the school rang home," Castiel worried at his bottom lip, "His foster parents thought that maybe he was just skipping school, he's- he's done that before but then came back home on time, pretending he'd been even though he hadn't. But then he didn't turn up at home and his foster parents tried ringing his phone and so have I and there was no answer," he took a sharp breath in as he said quietly, "The last time someone saw him was eight o'clock this morning."

Dean checked the time to see that it six o'clock; he'd been working late today and he supposed it was a good job else he wouldn't have been there when Cas had come into his office a shaking mess.

"Okay, so he could still turn up at home just fine," Dean said, mainly to himself, "That's possible, right?"

"He hasn't answered the phone Dean," Cas replied, voice small, "He sometimes doesn't answer to his foster parents because they've complained about it to me before. But he's never- he's never ignored my phone call before. And when I tried to call him, I couldn't get through, like he'd turned his phone off or took the battery out and he wouldn't do that, he never does that."

"Hey," Dean reached over and gave Cas' hand a squeeze, "It's gonna be okay."

Castiel nodded only once and Dean was, again, hit by how much this guy _cared. _He didn't care because he thought he was going to get into trouble or his pay was going to get docked, he cared because he liked the kid and he quite simply wanted him to be okay.

"Where does he live right now?" Dean asked, listening to Cas relay the address with a shaky breath, "Shall we start from there?"

"I- okay," Castiel said, "But everyone's been looking there so maybe- maybe we should go further into town."

"Okay, we can do that," Dean smiled, keeping himself calm and steady because the last thing they needed was for him to have a panic attack at the wheel, "It's gonna be alright," he told Cas and himself, still noting that Cas hadn't relaxed even a tiny bit, "Kids run off all the time. And they come back."

"Not all of them," Castiel murmured back.

Dean's hurt clenched at the connotations behind that but he forced himself to carry on, both for Cas' and his own sake, "I did. I ran away when I was a kid. I was younger than Olly though."

"But you-" Cas sniffed, listening intently to Dean, "you had a family to go back to, a good, happy home," he looked at Dean and frowned, "Right?"

Dean smiled at the fact that Cas had come to that conclusion, that Dean would have had a nice home growing up, "Not all the time, I didn't," he admitted, "When I was little, my parents argued a lot. There were times when I wouldn't see my dad for days," he tried not to think about it too hard and kept his voice light, "I guess it was teething issues between the two of them, who knows," he shrugged.

"Anyway, I was about ten I think? And my parents were full on arguing in the kitchen and my brother and I were in the sitting room playing with something, I can't remember what. And for some reason, that argument, I'd had enough. So," he smiled, able to see the funny side now that it was in the past, "I packed a bag for me and Sammy. I don't even remember what I packed but it wasn't anything we'd actually need," he shook his head and laughed, "I just picked out toys and, like, one outfit for Sam and that was it. And then I grabbed Sam by the hand and we left the back way, cause that door was already open and our front door made a lot of noise," he looked over at Cas to see that he had his full attention, "Anyway, we walked out into the back yard and then I realised I had no freaking clue as to where to go so we just ended up in the backyard shed and it was horrible and cold."

"When did your parents realise that-" Castiel started to ask.

"It didn't take them long," Dean turned them around a corner, keeping his gaze settled outside as he looked for places where young kids would hang around, "I heard them shouting out for us and they sounded terrified. But I still kept me and Sam in the shed, 'cause I was so upset with them for arguing all the time. But then I started to get hungry and Sam did too so I took us back."

"Did you get into trouble?"

"Not really," Dean shook his head, "When I told them why I'd done it- man, the look on their faces. I think I gave them a wake-up call. And I've gotta say, they never argued in front of me and Sam again. I mean, they must have still argued, but they made sure that I didn't hear it."

Castiel looked at him with a surprised expression, like he hadn't imagined that Dean would have had to deal with that. And Dean also saw a tiny but of understanding in those eyes, like perhaps Cas hadn't had the best of childhoods either.

"You see?" Dean smiled comfortingly, "Kids do come back from doing stupid things like running away."

Castiel managed a timid smile, "Because they're hungry?"

"Yeah," Dean grinned, "Exactly."

Castiel averted his gaze and went back to looking incredibly upset, his knuckles going white, "But they've looked everywhere Dean."

Dean's chest tightened but then he suddenly had an idea, "Did Oliver get lunch money for school?"

Castiel blinked, confused at the change of subject, "I would assume so."

"And where did he used to live with his mom? Was it here or a different neighbourhood?" Dean prompted.

"A different neighbourhood. I tried to find a foster home for him there so he could stay at the same school but I didn't find anyone," understanding washed over Cas' face, "But-" he frowned, biting his bottom lip, "It's miles away, he wouldn't be able to get there."

"Would he be able to get there on a bus or a train with his lunch money?" Dean asked, tapping his fingers nervously against the steering wheel, hoping to god he's right here.

"I guess so," Castiel nodded, seeming to be encouraged by the idea, "Especially if he saved some of it over a few days."

Dean looked at Cas and raised his eyebrows, "You think it's worth a shot?"

Castiel nodded again and they were off.

It didn't take them too long to drive into Oliver's old neighbourhood, turning the car into his old estate. It didn't exactly look like a family friendly place; the streets were littered with trash and even the school looked like a prison. It looked like a town you would struggle to get out of unless you were heading to prison, because no one gave a fuck about you if you lived there unless you did something wrong.

Dean wondered what sort of a shitty life Oliver would have continued to have had if he still lived here and what he would have become if his mother were still around. It didn't really bear thinking about.

They were on their way to Oliver's old house when Castiel grabbed at Dean's arm and shouted, "Dean, stop."

Keeping his cool, Dean parked the car neatly before he followed Cas' gaze to find Oliver hunched on a brick wall surrounding an abandoned park that looked like it was more of a health hazard to kids than a play area. Castiel wasted no time in unbuckling his seat belt and Dean scrambled to follow him, wondering whether Cas was going to actually implode or not.

"Hey, hey," he grabbed at Cas' hand when they were halfway to the park, Oliver having not noticed them yet, "Try not to go too hard on him, okay?"

Castiel looked like he wanted to argue but he nodded tightly and he took a long steadying breath out. After another elongated breath, they were on their way again, though Cas wasn't charging as much. It took Dean a moment to realise he was still holding Cas' hand. Instantly, he dropped it.

It took until they were a few feet away before Oliver noticed their arrival. Dean couldn't quite figure out whether he was happy to see them or not, his face unreadable as he kicked at the dirt beneath him.

"Hey kid," Dean said, trying to let him know that he wasn't in major trouble. When Oliver only looked up at them with wide eyes, Dean sat down next to him on the wall, feet managing to properly touch the floor unlike Olly's.

"Oliver," Castiel said, voice low and more than panicked, "You scared- no- _terrified _us. Why didn't you answer your phone to me?!"

Oliver hunched himself over even more, looking confused at Cas' comments, "Phone died. I didn't-" he sighed, crossing his arms tightly around himself, "I didn't think anyone would care."

"Well, I care!" Castiel said, voice cracking before he recovered, looking tiny and mighty all at once as he scolded the boy, "Dean cares!" he gestured to Dean, "Your foster family cares! You've had them worried sick all day Oliver."

Oliver huffed with no humour behind it, "No, they've been worried that they weren't going to get their pay cheque."

It made Dean's heart go heavy when Castiel couldn't argue against it; this kid deserved parents who wanted to give him the world, not ones who didn't give a damn about him. He'd already had to deal with that for fourteen years, didn't the kid deserve a break?

Castiel sighed and moved to sit on the other side of Oliver.

"They've got younger foster kids," Oliver mumbled, keeping his gaze locked on the floor that had bits of broken glass everywhere, "Ones that are cute and smiley, kids that they can fucking dote on and play stupid fucking games with. I'm just in the way," he pressed his lips together thinly, "Just like I was in the way for my mom."

"I'm sorry Oliver," Cas responded, hands fidgeting in his lap like he wanted to wrap an arm around the kid's shoulder but he was unsure of whether Oliver would react to it well.

"It's not your fault they don't want me," Oliver sniffed.

"It's my fault that you're with a family you're not happy with," Castiel replied, upset.

"Again, not your fault. I'm not gonna be happy with any of them Cas," Oliver grunted, kicking his feet up, "And none of them are going to be happy with me."

"Well," Dean piped up, "Then they're shitheads who don't deserve you."

That made Oliver smile, albeit it was a small one, "Yeah, sure."

"I'm serious kid," Dean told him, "If they don't want you, they don't deserve you. And more importantly, they must be stupid if they don't want a bright kid like you."

Castiel smiled at him over Oliver's head, his face a mix of awe and gratitude all rolled into one. Dean smiled back, kind of shocked that he'd managed to get such a response from Cas.

"I agree with Dean," Castiel said, leaning into Oliver and bumping shoulders with him, "I wish-" he sighed, wringing his hands together, "I wish you would have told me how unhappy you were before now but- but I suppose I should have figured it out myself."

"I told you Cas, it's not your fault," Oliver finally took his gaze from the floor to look up at Cas, raising his dark eyebrows at him honestly, "It's not your fault, okay?"

Castiel looked at him for a moment before he murmured, "Okay," he was silent for a moment before he added, "I'll come visit you at your home more often," he decided aloud, "and not just for business reasons. I'll come visit you just because you deserve people around you who actually care for you," the added 'like me' was unsaid but both Oliver and Dean understood what Cas was saying, that he cared for Oliver and wanted to help him see that he _was _wanted.

Oliver blinked, "You'll come visit me?"

"Yes," Cas nodded, "And I'll try and find another foster family better suited to you, but you might have to stay where you are for a little while longer. It can be difficult to find people."

At the news, Oliver's face lit up and he suddenly looked like a kid much younger than fourteen as he turned around to Dean with wide, happy eyes, "What about you?"

"Me?" Dean asked, surprised that Oliver would even consider him as a potential visitor. He'd only seen the kid twice after all and that was including today.

"Yeah," Oliver nodded expectantly.

Dean looked over at Cas who was giving him a worried expression, like he didn't expect Dean to go the extremely extra mile to do this. Dean knew Cas wouldn't blame him for turning Oliver down; he barely knew the kid and it wasn't his job to look out for him. But like Dean had said before, he liked the kid, so he found himself saying, eyes fixed on Cas, "I can come visit with Cas if that's okay. Get you out of that place for a couple of hours."

Cas' eyes widened in shock before his face lit up into the biggest, most beautiful smile that Dean had ever fucking laid eyes on.

Oliver narrowed his eyes at him though, suspicion clear on his face, "Are you just saying that?"

"No," Dean shook his head, "When I say I'm going to do something, I do it. I don't lie."

"Says the laywer," Oliver scoffed, picking at a loose thread on his t-shirt.

"Well," Dean told him, "I guess I'm just going to have to prove to you that I'm telling you the truth aren't I?"

Oliver tipped his head to the side as he looked at Dean, obviously trying to gather whether he was lying or not, "Okay."

"Come on kiddo," Dean stood up, pushing his freezing hands into his pockets, thankful that at least today Oliver had had the good sense to put on a freaking jacket, "We'll drive you back. We'll call people on the way to let them know that you're safe. And hey," he nudged Olly's shoulder, "We'll drop off for some food along the way, get a nice burger or something, how does that sound?"

Oliver's shoulders drooped, though it was probably the prospect of going back to his foster parents instead of the food, "I guess so."

"I'll take that as a yes," Dean grinned, "What about you Cas?"

Cas was still smiling at Dean's agreement to visit Oliver and it seemed to take him a moment to understand that Dean was actually talking to him, "It sounds like a great idea to me."

"Awesome," Dean replied.

Oliver looked from Castiel to Dean with narrowed his eyes, "Are you two gay for each other or something?"

"Huh?" Dean pulled a face, not sure how to respond.

"Well," the boy crossed his arms and explained, "Dean was the lawyer for my mom's case, he's got fuck-" he caught Cas' reprimanding glare at the curse word and instantly corrected it, "nothing- he's got nothing to do with me but he's here anyway with you, which means that when you," he looked at Cas, "were stressed out because you thought I was dead in a ditch or whatever," he ignored Cas' frown, "you called Dean. First sign of trouble and you called Dean, which means you're totally gay for him."

Dean snorted, enjoying the look of embarrassment on Cas' face.

"Dude," Oliver turned to Dean with a raised eyebrow, "You can't say anything, you answered the phone and came running, so that means you're just as gay for Cas."

Dean couldn't help but grin as he shrugged, "Got to say, the kid's good," he wrapped an arm around Oliver's shoulder, grinning at Cas' bewildered expression, "Now come on detective, let's get some grub in you," he started to walk them back to the car. When he realised Cas wasn't joining them, he looked back and extended his free hand. Cas looked down at it and, with a hesitant smile, reached over and took it, entwining their fingers together.

"God, you two are so embarrassing," Oliver mumbled to himself as they finished their short walk to the car, though he was suppressing a smile.

"Hey, you want a burger or not?" Dean asked with a grin, lightly shoving Oliver who only laughed in response.


	3. Power of the Enterprise Knows no Bounds

The Power of the Enterprise Knows no Bounds

Oliver's foster home looked like any other family home, a neat enough front yard, a dark green door and sparse flowers that were perhaps weeds on either side of the pathway. It seemed like a happy place, but Dean knew that Oliver kind of hated it, perhaps _because _it was too much of a 'homey home'. For a kid that was used to a loveless, deprived life, this was probably something completely different. And it probably didn't help matters that according to Cas, Oliver still felt like he was pretty much ignored in the house against the other younger children.

Well, that was why Dean and Cas were here anyway, to try and prove to him that he _was _wanted and Dean seriously hoped that they could prove that to him today. All morning he'd been terrified that he was going to fuck this up somehow and say or do something wrong that would not only upset Olly, but also cause his new flowering relationship with Cas to flounder too.

"Come on," Cas interrupted his dire thoughts as he reached over and squeezed Dean's hand.

"Right," Dean nodded, leaning over to peck Cas on the mouth before disentangling their hands to get out of the car.

He shut his car door with a thud, quickly going back to grabbing Cas' hand as they walked up the small pathway to the house. He didn't even know why he was so damn nervous about the whole thing. He really liked the kid and the two other times he'd met him, Oliver hadn't seemed to hate him or anything. And Cas was here, gorgeous, _wonderful_ Cas who always knew the right thing to say or do.

They reached the door within seconds but when Cas brought up his free hand to use the knocker, the door swung open, Oliver behind it.

Oliver squinted at them, dark eyebrows furrowing, "What'd you get out of the car for?"

"Uh," Dean pulled a face, "To knock on the door?"

"Well, you don't have to because I'm here," Oliver rolled his eyes like Dean was an idiot. Perhaps Dean should be offended that the kid was already giving him backtalk but instead, it only made all of Dean's worries that he was going to fuck this up fall right out of the window.

Cas peered into the house before Oliver stepped out and shut it behind him, pulling his dark green parka closer to him. This near to Oliver, Dean could see the slight wear and tear of the fabric, how his boots were scuffed, jeans a little too frayed at the edges to be categorised as 'fashionable'.

"Where are Mr and Mrs Carlyle?" Castiel enquired, frowning at the shut door.

Oliver half shrugged, like he couldn't care less, "Oh, they took the kids out on a 'fun day out' somewhere or whatever," he grimaced at his words, annoyed at them for reasons that Dean could probably guess.

"Oh, okay," Cas said, squeezing Dean's hand unconsciously.

Oliver looked up at the two of them, brown eyes unreadable as he said offhandedly, "So," he licked his lips, "You guys turned up."

"Course we did," Dean frowned, "Didn't you think we would?"

Olly shrugged like he couldn't have cared less either way and moved past them to make his way to the impala, hands in his pockets. If it weren't for the fact that Dean was carefully watching his every move, he would have missed it when Oliver ducked his head down and grinned.

"Gotta say," Oliver ran his fingertips over the roof of the impala when Dean and Cas caught up with him, "Your car is way better than Cas'."

Dean grinned, noting Cas' frown, "That's just basic fact kid."

Oliver looked up and laughed when he saw Cas' expression.

"My car is perfectly practical," Castiel grumbled. For some reason Cas was very protective of his car, even though it was pretty much a shit one. The first time Dean had seen it was the day Oliver had gone missing; they'd dropped Olly off and Dean had drove Cas back to the office so he could get his own car and drive himself off home. All of Dean's built up tension had completely subsided when he'd saw Cas' car, much to Cas' protest.

"Sure it is," Dean reassured him, pecking Cas on the mouth, though Cas' cute little frown didn't go away.

Oliver groaned and leaned back against the car, crossing his arms and scuffed boots underneath him, "Are you guys gonna kiss every five seconds and be gross all day?"

"I can't promise not to," Dean winked, "Cas is very irresistible," he turned to Cas whose cheeks where hinting pink, "Aren't you Cas?"

They were only a week into their relationship and they were still in that stage where Dean struggled to keep his hands off Cas at any moment they were in the same proximity. And when they weren't in the same place, Dean's hands itched to reach up and grab the phone to make it so they _were _together. To be honest, Dean doubted that feeling would ever go away with Cas. He kind of hoped the excitement, the way his fingertips tingled when they grazed Cas' skin, the way his lips felt on fire when they were pressed against Cas'-yeah, Dean didn't want that to ever go away.

"Eugh," Oliver complained, pulling a disgusted face.

"Hey," Dean raised an eyebrow, "You set us up, you can't complain."

"Think I'm regretting that now," Oliver said, eyes glinting with amusement.

Dean rolled his eyes, "Come on, let's get in the car before you insult us anymore," he squeezed Cas' hand and let go, moving around the car to get in the driving seat. He paused when he saw Olly go to open the backseat door.

"Aren't you gonna call shotgun?" Dean asked.

Oliver looked over to him with a surprised, childish excitement written on his face, the kind that Oliver must rarely express apart from when he let go a little, "Can I?"

And well, Dean wasn't going to say no to that, to the way Olly was looking at the car with wide, interested eyes.

"Kid, get in the front seat," Dean told him, face breaking into a grin when Oliver scrambled to the passenger seat with a massive smile. Dean looked over the car and smiled warmly at Cas, one that was partially apologising for the fact that Cas was going to be stuck in the back. Cas obviously wasn't bothered by that at all as he looked happily at the sight of Olly gliding his fingers over the seating.

Once they were all packed in the car and seat belted up, Oliver looked from Dean to Cas with an expectant look, "So, where are you guys taking me?"

"I don't know, where do you want to go?" Castiel said, fiddling with the hem of his thick knitted sweater that was completely endearing to Dean (Dean had kind of fallen in love with the way Cas dressed, how sometimes he wore clothes that were probably meant for pensioners and managed to make them look adorable, and the other times where he walked in with a gorgeous suit and sweater combo that made him look like he was straight out of a photo shoot… Yeah, Dean was never going to get tired of that).

"What," Oliver blinked, "I get a choice?"

"Obviously," Dean said slowly.

"Oh," Oliver replied, still sounding a little confused, "Okay."

"So," Dean started up the car, driving them from Oliver's hated foster home, "Where do you want to go?"

Olly shrugged and it made Dean's heart ache at the way the boy acted unsure, like he'd never been given a choice before, "I don't know."

"How about the movies?" Cas offered, leaning forward from the back seat.

"Ugh," Oliver groaned, picking at a loose thread on his jacket, "It's a Saturday, all the annoying teenagers are out."

Dean quirked up a brow, "You do realise you're a teenager, right?"

"Shut up," Oliver mumbled.

"Oliver, we have talked about manners," Castiel commented, though it wasn't said harshly, but with an exasperated sigh.

"Right, sorry," Oliver replied quietly, folding his arms as he looked through the passenger window at the streets they drove through.

"Any ideas where you want to go Olly?" Dean asked, being careful not to push. If the kid wasn't used to making decisions, it would be wrong to try and force him to make one too quickly.

Oliver was quiet for a moment before his dark eyes widened as he thought of something, "How about we go to your place?"

Dean blinked, "My place?" he asked slowly, never even thinking that would come up as a possibility.

"Yeah," Oliver nodded like, again, he thought Dean was being slightly idiotic, "I feel like I know _waay,_" he elongated the word with a roll of his eyes, "too much about Cas," he thumbed at Cas in the backseat who looked just as surprised at the idea as Dean felt, "But I only know two things about you."

"What are the two things?" Dean couldn't help but ask, slightly hesitant at what the answer would be.

"That you're a lawyer and you're head over heels for the guy in the back," Oliver explained, tapping his fingers against the dashboard, "Hey Cas," he twisted his head, "We're allowed to go to his place, right?"

"Yes," Castiel agreed, though he was frowning slightly, "With Dean's permission. Which you haven't got yet."

Oliver looked back at Dean with raised eyebrows, waiting for a reply.

"We can go to my place," Dean decided, internally worried about whether it was clean or not; the last thing he wanted was for Cas to see his apartment for the first time while it was messy, "I can cook us something, I'm a good cook," he boasted with a grin, "See, that's another thing you know about me now."

"I'll wait until I try the food first before I add it to the list," Oliver replied dryly.

"Fair enough," Dean shrugged, turning the car around the corner to their new chosen destination.

Oliver twisted on his chair to look back at Cas again and said, with a too sweet a tone to fit him, "You ever been to Dean's place Cas?"

"No, not yet," Cas mumbled, his cheeks instantly colouring red.

"Right," Oliver nodded, with a shit eating grin.

Dean chose to ignore that and while he tried to prevent his own face from heating up, he swiftly changed the subject, "And hey, you know more than two things about me anyway. You know I have a better car than Cas," he grinned when he saw Cas' scowl, "And that I-" he halted his sentence when he saw Oliver was smiling brazenly at him, like he knew something Dean didn't, "What?"

"Nothing," Oliver half shrugged, "Just noticed you never disagreed with me about you being head over heels for Cas."

Dean spluttered and nearly rammed the car into a lamppost as Cas seemed to be struggling just as much in the backseat. Meanwhile, Olly cackled like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen in his entire life.

After Dean had recovered, doing his best not to say anything else incriminating that Oliver could use as ammunition to tease him and Cas, they rode in easy conversation. Oliver spent most of the time complaining about the excess of school work he had, calmly telling Cas that _yes, _he _had_ been to school all week thank you very much.

"Here we go," Dean parked the car into his spot at the apartment complex.

"You live in an apartment?" Oliver asked, unbuckling his seat belt, looking excited for seeing Dean's boring apartment for reasons Dean couldn't understand.

"Yeah," Dean nodded, quickly following Olly out of the car, "It's only me so it wouldn't exactly make sense for me to have a massive stinking mansion, sorry to disappoint."

Oliver pointed out, "Cas lives in a house and he lives by himself too."

"Yes, but I do have a cat," Castiel added, smiling when Dean took his hand.

"See, the cat makes all the difference," Dean told Oliver, still finding it unbearably cute that Cas had a cat. Dean wasn't exactly a pet or even an animal person, but the idea of Cas going home to a little cat made him embarrassingly gooey inside. And wow, Dean seriously needed to sort out how incredibly smitten he was with the guy who was currently holding his hand.

"Sure," Oliver said sarcastically.

"Come on," Dean rolled his eyes, guiding them both to his apartment.

Dean's apartment wasn't massive, but it wasn't exactly tiny either. Hell, he had his own business, it wasn't like he was going to be living in squalor. It was open and airy, most of the times it was clean (Dean was kind of finicky about that a lot of the time, he hadn't paid to have his own apartment for it to look like a tip) and the furniture was inviting, though it could often be interpreted as 'show homey'. Dean had tried his hardest to get rid of that label by scattering his belongings around the place, photographs of his family on the shelving units, little knickknacks that put his own stamp on it so it looked more like a place that someone actually lived in_._

Truthfully, Dean didn't always feel like he was at home here. Along the years, he'd worked for longer and longer each day and his apartment had slowly begun to just be a place he passed out at each night, nothing more. He hoped that with his fledging relationship with Cas (and even due to Olly's appearance in his life), that feeling might disappear.

Oliver whistled when they entered, kicking off his boots and passing Dean his coat for it to be put away, "Your place is pretty fancy."

"Um, yeah," Dean said awkwardly, side glancing Cas to gather his reaction. Did Cas think it was too impersonal? Or worse, did he think it was too flashy? God, he hoped not.

Castiel caught him watching him and smiled, quickly leaning forward to kiss Dean on the cheek while Oliver was too busy trailing around the open kitchen and sitting room. Instantly, Dean relaxed and felt himself deflate a little as he happily pecked Cas on the lips.

"You've got a lot of movies and books," Olly commented from the mass amount of bookshelves that filled one side of Dean's wall.

"Uh, yeah," Dean said, following Oliver into the sitting room, realising that he was sounding a little like a bumbling idiot, "I don't get much time to read or watch them though."

Oliver looked back at him and said with a slight glint in his eyes, "So you're one of those guys who has no life outside of work."

Dean frowned, "I believe the nicer term is 'married to the job'."

He hadn't always been that way but, over the years, it had slowly developed. He threw himself into work, staying in his office until late, having more clients than necessary (jesus, with his salary he could have one client a month and he'd be living just fine). Dean didn't know when he'd started doing it but now, it just felt like second nature even though it shouldn't be. Sam owned half of the business and he didn't do half as much work as Dean did, not because he was lazy, but because he was a normal human being who did normal hours.

Deep down, hidden far into a secluded part of his brain, Dean had admitted to himself he didn't w_ant _to be that guy, he didn't want to be working ridiculously long hours and coming home to an empty apartment in the evening. But there were only so many times he could go see his parents without it becoming pathetic, or go tag along with whatever Sam and Jess were doing, and there were only so many times that his friends were free to meet up seeing as they had their own lives. In that hidden corner of his mind, he'd realised that he was missing something in his life, that he was _lonely _even though he had a mass of family who loved him, a good amount of friends that he would give his life for and he was _lucky. _But even they couldn't erase the empty feeling in his stomach sometimes. And _fuck, _he wanted that feeling to go away more than anything.

"How come you became a lawyer anyway?" Oliver asked, thankfully interrupting Dean's thoughts before he could feel any shittier about himself, "Was it for the money?" Olly raised an eyebrow, half teasing, half being serious.

"No," Dean replied, choosing to go sit on one of his leather couches as he watched Oliver gaze across the array of books and films. Castiel followed him, falling to sit closely next to Dean, his entire side of body pressed up against Dean's. That was another thing that Dean appreciated about Cas, the closeness of him, how he didn't seem to know what personal space was when it came to Dean. If it were anyone else, Dean would hate it, but with Cas, he loved the warmth of him. It made Dean feel oddly comforted, which was probably pretty dangerous seeing as he'd only been dating Cas for a _week._

"Then what?" Oliver asked, still standing as he fiddled around with the selection of books and movies Dean had, eyes lighting up when he saw the collection of records on the end.

"I don't know really," Dean shrugged, "I did a, er, small class of it and it just felt right to me," he tried to think of good enough words to describe it, "I like how it's simple and straightforward, but also how it can be complicated too, how it's never really the same case so I have to use my brain instead of going through the motions. I like how I get to help people, most of the time anyway," Dean sighed, though his lips turned into a smile when Cas leaned close enough against him so that Dean could loosely wrap an arm around his shoulders, "I get to meet new people all the time, learn new things, sometimes the new things aren't even lawyer related which I like too," Dean smiled sheepishly, adding on for comedic effect, because he figured his explanation had been shit, "And I guess the money doesn't hurt either."

Dean wished he had some kind of thoughtful, charming reason as to why he had chosen to become a lawyer. People always seemed to have inspiring reasons as to why they do what they do, how they became a nurse because they were once brought back to life by one and wanted to do the same for other people, or how they became a firefighter because their mom was saved from a fire and they wanted to save people's moms too. Or something even as simple as their dad taught them to cook their entire childhood and now that he had died, they were continuing on with it for the memory of him. But Dean didn't have any of those precious backstories that would make people sigh dreamily or give him a sad, knowing glance. Dean didn't have that at all. Being a lawyer had just made sense to him; that was all.

"I'd never be a lawyer," Oliver told them, "Seems like a shitty job to me."

"It's not for everyone," Dean agreed, the understatement of the century. Even Dean, who_ loved_ his job, sometimes questioned what the hell he was doing. Being a lawyer was tough, sometimes downright awful, but then there were times when Dean saw someone's life get changed for the better because of something he had done, and that always reminded Dean as to why he was in the field.

Cas jumped into the conversation, "What do you want to do Oliver? Do you have any ideas?"

"I dunno," Oliver muttered, stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets.

"You don't need to worry," Dean shook his head, "You're only young; you don't need to know everything you want to do in life just yet. Hell, I'm thirty one and I _still _don't know what I'm doing."

"I think that's a universal feeling," Castiel added with a fond smile, accepting Dean's kiss with a hum.

"Okay, good," Oliver nodded, relaxing a little. Dean got it. When kids turned into teenagers, so many people threw things at them, about how they needed to choose the career path right there and then like they should know when they were still only kids. The pressure had gotten worse over the years, making kids feel like shit if they didn't fully know what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. Dean thought that kids should be allowed to be just that- _kids, _and he was going to try and incorporate that with Oliver, to let him know that it was okay to act your age sometimes.

"Hey, you have Star Trek," Oliver piped up, pulling out one of the many DVD's that Dean had of the franchise.

"Yeah," Dean said a little too enthusiastically, "You like Star Trek?"

"Yeah, it's okay, better than Star Wars anyway," Oliver said, looking at the back of the DVD case in the offhanded way that Dean had quickly realised was what Oliver acted like when it was actually something he _did_ like.

"I've never watched them," Castiel said like it was no big deal as he reached over and started playing with Dean's wrist, fingertips running over the veins hidden under the skin.

Both Oliver and Dean snapped their astonished eyes to him and said in a scandalised unison, "What?!"

Castiel opened his mouth and then shut it, gaze slowly turning to Dean's, "Did I say the wrong thing?"

"Okay, we're totally going to have a Star Trek marathon and we're going to teach you on what you've been missing out on. Cas, if you're dating me, you totally need to know about Star Trek," Dean told him, totally serious as Castiel only blinked at him, "It's important."

"Okay," Castiel replied as Oliver snorted.

"Come on Olly, get the first one in," Dean gestured for Oliver to hurry up. Oliver grabbed the first DVD and plonked it in the player, throwing the remote to Dean who had to be quick to catch it, else it would have accidentally knocked him in the face.

Oliver stole the other couch for himself and, after a quick glance at Dean, he picked his feet up off the floor and sat sideways on the leather couch, knees tucked up. Dean didn't mind so he didn't say anything, choosing to pull Cas even closer to him so he could nuzzle at his jaw as the opening credits came on.

"You'll enjoy this baby," he mumbled so Oliver (who was too busy watching the giant, normally abandoned television screen with wide eyes) didn't hear.

Castiel turned his bright blue eyes to Dean and smiled, "I'm enjoying it already."

Only one movie in and they were all already hooked on the screen, though Dean made the effort to walk the few feet to the kitchen to grab them some snacks, pouring popcorn into two separate bowls so Olly could have one to himself and Dean and Cas could share (why Dean had a random ass box of microwave popcorn in his cupboard, he had no fucking clue).

Nearing the end to another movie, Dean realised the time and paused the film (much to Oliver's and Cas' grumblings and shouts of disapproval), "Hey, it's almost dinner time. You want me to order a pizza or do you want me to cook something? We don't have loads of time until we have to drop you back off Olly," he wavered a little when he saw the disappointment on Oliver's face, "But if you want, I can still cook something to show off my epic culinary skills; it just won't be _that _fancy."

"I vote for your food," Oliver replied, still looking a little upset that his day out was nearly over, "I need you to do it so I can add whether you're a good cook or not to the list."

"I _am _a good cook," Dean argued back lightly with a pout.

"Hmm," Oliver crossed his arms, "Not gonna believe you until you make something."

"Fine, I'll make us something," Dean said, regretfully disentangling himself from Cas (they'd gotten considerably closer as the movies had progressed, so much so that Cas was basically sitting on his lap, legs draped over Dean and the rest of the couch, head tilted to rest on Dean's shoulder). Cas grunted but he didn't stop Dean from getting up, though his little frown showcased that he wasn't happy about it.

"Do you want me to help?" Cas offered.

"No," he pecked him lightly on the mouth, "You need to watch the movie. I've seen them a billion times and I can watch them from the kitchen, its fine. You two enjoy the movie while I do all the hard work."

Cas' eyes shined as he looked back to the television screen.

When Dean served their meal (a simple spaghetti and meatballs dish seeing as he wasn't exactly prepared to make anything spectacular), Oliver had to resentfully agree that Dean had been telling the truth the entire time and that he could, indeed, cook to perfection.

Cas was besotted with Dean's cooking, groaning around his first bite which he quickly subdued when he realised what he was doing. Dean fought the urge to lean in and tell him to save that noise for the bedroom because one, there was a kid present; and two, he wasn't sure whether that kind of remark would go down well or not seeing as they'd only been dating for so long.

They just about managed to finish off the movie before Cas looked at his watch and silently told Dean that it was time for them to take Oliver back to his foster home. Dean grabbed the remote and turned the film on pause, noting how Cas was already deflating, like he didn't want to take Oliver back, either because he knew Oliver wouldn't like it or because he didn't want the day to end just yet. If he were anything like Dean, it would be both of those reasons.

"You guys should totally dress up as Kirk and Spock next Halloween," Oliver commented, throwing a piece of popcorn into his mouth.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment, seeing as you so confidentially think Cas and I will still be together by Halloween," Dean grinned as wide as can be, Oliver beaming sarcastically back.

"I'm not like Spock," Castiel frowned and it made Dean smile at the fact that Cas had inwardly agreed that of course Dean would be Kirk.

"You're a little like Spock," Dean told him, because it was true, Dean had noticed that sometimes Cas occasionally was a little off with 'normal' human behaviour, like not knowing common sayings and misunderstanding of whether Dean was joking or not, "But in a totally cute way," Dean added reassuringly, because Cas was incredibly cute in whatever he did, even though he was a grown ass man with thick arms and thighs that Dean totally hadn't not noticed.

"Gross," Oliver muttered, "You've totally made it gross."

Dean tilted his head and winked at him, remembering why he paused the film in the first place when he saw Cas watching him. There was a question on his face as if to ask him whether he or Dean were going to break the news to Olly that it was finally time for him to go back home.

Dean smiled and tried not to wince when he said, "It's time to take you back buddy."

Oliver's smile vanished, "Oh."

Castiel reached over and grabbed a hold of Dean's hand, "But we can watch the next one next time," he said carefully, "How does that sound?"

"Sure," Olly mumbled, twisting so he was sitting properly on the couch, his face quickly masking back to the maddeningly unreadable one he chose to use when he was clearly upset with something.

"Or watch or do something else, we'll figure it out," Dean added, gripping Cas' hand tightly. He hadn't thought that at the end of their day trip it would be so damn difficult to tell Oliver that the day was over. He'd assumed it would be easy, not that it would make Dean's heart clench uncomfortably at seeing the droop in Oliver's shoulders.

"Whatever," Oliver shrugged like he couldn't care less, quickly standing up, "Shall we go?"

The trip back to Oliver's foster home was awful to say the least. Oliver was unresponsive no matter how hard Dean or Cas tried to engage him in conversation. He kept his eyes locked on the passing traffic and streets, jaw getting stiffer and stiffer the closer they got to his home.

And honestly, it was kind of heart breaking to watch.

"So," Dean said when they finally reached Oliver's foster home, "We'll see you next week. I'm not sure what day but it'll probably be another Saturday seeing as that seems to be easiest for us all."

"Fine," Oliver muttered, not sounding like he quite believed it.

"Hey Olly, look at me," Dean turned on his seat, waiting for Oliver to lock gazes at him which took a good half a minute, "Remember the first time around, how you didn't believe me when I said I would come visit you? And I told you that I'd prove it to you by showing you. And I did, didn't I?" Oliver didn't say anything, "This time around, you've got to trust that Cas and I will stick to our promise again, okay?"

Oliver nodded mutely, eyes still wary but his jaw and shoulders relaxed.

"We'll see you next week Oliver," Castiel promised.

Oliver watched them both for a beat, "Yeah," he agreed, "Okay, see you."

And then Olly was off, pushing himself out of the car and walking back to his foster home, hands in his pockets and never once looking back at them.

"Shit," Dean watched him go, still staring at the now shut front door of the house that Oliver had disappeared into, "He really doesn't believe that we'll come back, does he?"

Castiel shook his head, "No, he doesn't," he said it quietly, "Everyone he's ever known has left him, it's not surprising that he feels that we'll do the same, no matter what our promises are."

"We're gonna prove him wrong," Dean said forcefully.

Castiel turned to look at him, looking a mix of sadness at what had just occurred, and gratitude of what Dean had just promised to. And that expression just made Dean lean over and press his lips to Cas', cupping his face with his hands as he brought him into a lingering kiss. Cas sighed when they let go of each other, a happy, breathless kind of sigh that Dean wanted to be the cause of a hundred times and more.

"Um," Dean started to speak, "Do you want to come back to mine for a coffee? I know you were just already there but- well, I thought, um-" he trailed off, his cheeks red and speech fumbling. God, even though they were legit dating now, he could still sometimes become a pile of goo when he tried to make any notion of them doing _anything _together. The day after they'd found Olly when he'd ran off, it had taken Dean twenty minutes to work up the courage to call Cas to ask him out on a date, perfecting his words over and over in his head beforehand. Even then he'd been a bumbling mess on the phone. In the end, Cas had been the one to mention them meeting up for a date, which Dean couldn't complain about because he'd still gotten what he wanted. Seriously though, Dean needed to learn how to talk to hot boys with the name of Cas because this was getting kind of pathetic now.

Cas could see that Dean was floundering and he shut Dean up with a kiss, asking softly against his mouth, "How about you come to mine instead?"

"Yeah, okay," Dean agreed with a deflating sigh, thankful that Cas never made fun of him for his fumbling.

Through Cas' directions, they got to Cas' house within twenty minutes. Dean was surprised to find that it wasn't that far away from his apartment, maybe a fifteen minute walk, if that.

He was unsurprised, however, to find that Cas' house was a fucking delight. It was a normal sized two storey house, brick finishing with a sunshine yellow door that had an adorable little bee door knocker on it. The front yard was littered with beautiful different flowers, something that Cas obviously worked hard on. There were even hanging baskets overflowing with daisies of different shades. The whole damn yard was pristine in Dean's eyes, wild flowers and a freshly cut lawn that wasn't _too _perfect, making it feel more homely than it would if the grass was cut to within an inch of its life with perfect ninety degree angles for the corners.

Just the front of Cas' house already made it feel like Dean was walking into a completely different dimension, forgetting the rest of the street around the house because it _didn't matter. _This was a house that belonged in a fairy tale. And Dean fell in love with it right there and then.

"Your house is gorgeous Cas," Dean gasped as they got out of the car and walked down the little pathway to Cas' front door, hand in hand.

Cas ducked his head down, like he was trying to hide the blush covering his cheeks, "Thank you."

"Just like you are," Dean added with a grin, reaching forward and kissing Cas on the cheek as he waited for Cas to open the door.

The inside of the house was just as beautiful, wooden furnishings that made it feel like _home. _Honestly, he'd been here for all of five minutes and Dean already felt more at home here than he did in his own fucking apartment.

It was slightly cluttered, most tables and the bookshelves that filled the one wall were covered with bits and pieces, little ornaments and candles (there was a heck of a lot of unlit candles) placed here, there and everywhere, books piled up next to the couch with a lamp on top.

The couches looked squishy and comfortable, throws over the top of them with more than enough pillows piled across the couches. Unlike Dean's fancy, shiny wooden floors, Cas' sitting room was carpeted and as Dean toed off his boots, he could feel the bounciness under the balls of his feet.

The room wasn't too dark but it wasn't bright whites either and a warmth came from the room even though the fireplace was unlit. It felt like the perfect home to cuddle under a blanket with someone, hot chocolate in hand as flakes of snow pattered against the window. But it was the same room where you could laze about in the heat, curtains shut to keep some breeze in as you complained about how fucking hot it was. And fuck, Dean really wanted to be with Cas for long enough to know what both of those feelings were like.

"Jesus Cas, your place is great," Dean couldn't help but say aloud, letting Cas bring him more into the room.

"Its home," Cas shrugged, like it wasn't the most cosiest and beautiful sitting room that Dean had ever laid eyes on.

They heard a meow and Dean looked down to find that Cas' cat had stealthily appeared from nowhere, rubbing his face against Cas' ankle.

"Hello," Castiel abandoned Dean's hand to reach down and pick up his cat, coloured a grey-black with bright blue eyes that challenged Cas' eyes for the bluest eyes that Dean had ever seen.

"He's like a mini you," Dean declared with a grin, carefully hovering his hand near the cat's face to see whether he was going to scratch him or not; when the cat merely sniffed at him and went back to rubbing himself all over Cas, Dean dropped his hand onto the fur and stroked him tenderly, "If he had brown hair instead, he'd quite literally be a mini Cas."

Castiel smiled, "It appears he likes you," he rubbed his nose with the cat's, "Do you like Dean, Noah?"

The cat meowed, turning to look at Dean in Cas' arms and then pushing himself into Dean's hand, clearly asking for more attention.

"We don't get many visitors so he tends to be very attention seeking when we do," Castiel explained with a smile, dropping Noah onto the couch when the cat had had enough for the time being.

Dean didn't really know what to make of the comment, whether it meant that Cas didn't have much of a family or many friends. Or perhaps Dean was just reading too much into it, who knew. But Dean did notice that there were few photographs on display in the room and the sparse ones that were there only seemed to be of the cat and one or two of Cas with a redheaded girl roughly around the same age as Cas.

Just the idea of Cas not having many friends or family physically hurt Dean's head; he didn't know how he could cope without his family or friends and he had no idea how Cas, who seemed to love being with other people, could cope without a family either. And just the notion of Cas having little to no friends completely baffled Dean because how the fuck could a guy like Cas not have enamoured hundreds of people to be his friend?

Now that the cat was sauntering around Dean and Cas' feet, Cas turned his attention back to Dean, smiling shyly as he asked, "So, coffee?"

"Yeah," Dean nodded, following Cas into the small kitchen that looked like it was from a fairy tale cottage. Dean leaned against the counter as Cas started to set up the coffee machine, shamelessly admiring Cas' ass as he reached up to grab a new box of coffee grounds.

"So, I had fun today," Dean brought up a conversation, smiling when Noah, who had followed them into the room, ignored Dean as soon as he noticed his food bowl.

"Me too," Cas agreed, turning to flash a smile at Dean.

"Would it be pathetic to admit that that was the most fun I've had in a really long time?" Dean half joked.

Cas tipped his head down and smiled, "No, it wouldn't be pathetic at all," he set up the coffee machine (a high end one that highlighted something that Dean had already learnt about Cas- he was a coffee addict) and then turned to meet Dean, face flushing when he realised that Dean had walked across the small kitchen to stand close to him, "You're good with Oliver."

Dean wrapped his arms loosely around Cas' neck, "You think so?" he asked, not fishing for compliments but genuinely wondering. It was incredibly fucking important that he was doing this right, he didn't want to fuck up the kid by being a terrible role model for him or anything.

"Yes," Cas reached upwards to kiss the corner of Dean's mouth, arms wrapping around Dean's waist, "You are."

"Good," Dean relaxed, "And obviously, you're great with him. I can tell he looks up to you."

"He does?" Castiel asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Dean nodded, pulling Cas closer to him, "You might not notice it, but he listens to you. He values what you say and I think with a kid like Oliver, that's the biggest compliment he could give to you."

Castiel's face lit up and Dean could see how big an accomplishment that was to him. Dean wasn't lying either, Oliver _did _look over to Cas to see his reaction to things sometimes, listening to what Cas had to say before he made a decision or said something.

"I can't wait till next week now," Dean carried on talking seeing as Cas looked a little lost for words, "Maybe we can have him on Sunday too, take him out somewhere on the Saturday and then have a movie day on the Sunday," he mused aloud, thinking that would actually be a great idea. It perhaps might prevent Oliver from looking so downhearted when he was dropped off back home, "That way I could make you an epic Sunday dinner that would make any other meal pale in comparison," Dean grinned cheekily, winking at a bewildered looking Cas who was staring at him with wide unreadable eyes," What?"

"It's just-" Cas swallowed audibly, speaking with a reverent tone as he brought his hands up to cradle Dean's face, "I'm struggling to believe that you're real."

Dean snorted, "Yeah, well I _am _unbelievably handsome," he batted his eyelashes exaggeratedly because that was the way he dealt with compliments that were too much for him, ones that he weren't the least bit deserving of- he took them as a joke.

"No Dean, I'm serious," Cas didn't let Dean do his bullshit act, holding Dean's head in his hands gently as he kissed him on the lips, "I know I haven't known you for long, but the way that you are with Oliver, with a boy you have no responsibility of, you're nothing short of amazing with him. And with the way you are with other people too," Cas shook his head, like he couldn't believe it, "I don't understand how someone so caring, so wonderful, who loves his family more than anything, who would do anything for even a stranger, can exist."

Dean rolled his eyes, "Yeah, says the person with the biggest heart on the planet."

Castiel opened his mouth, perhaps to argue against it but Dean stopped him before he could, pressing their mouths together tightly. It was the only way Dean really could thank Cas for saying such fucking nice things about him. No one, not ever, had told Dean shit like that before. And he didn't quite know how to handle it apart from kissing Cas like his life fucking depended on it.

Cas was just as responsive, maybe his way of proving to Dean that what he had said was what he truly felt, or perhaps he didn't quite know how to take compliments either and he dealt with it just as well as Dean did.

Cas' hands were in his hair, down his back, while Dean's kept his around Cas' neck, pulling him as close as fucking possible as he licked at the seam of Cas' lips, desperate for entrance of that perfect fucking mouth. Within seconds, his wish was granted and he had the moans taken out of him as Cas slotted their bodies together, one of Cas' thighs pushing in between Dean's legs and _holy fuck._

"Dean," Cas groaned in between a kiss, lips already spit slick, as they rushed their way back to the sitting room, Dean stumbling backwards. It only made Dean hope that Cas knew his house well enough to not accidentally impale Dean with anything (apart from with his dick, _heh.)_

They both fell to the couch somewhat painfully, but neither of them made any complaints as they were too busy making out like it was their only way of surviving, inhaling each other, hands fucking everywhere. Cas was perfectly in between Dean's legs, one hand wrapped around the top of Dean's arm in a vice like grip as he groaned, the other resting against Dean's chest to keep himself steady as he unconsciously ground himself on top of Dean.

Dean was just as responsive, licking at Cas' mouth, their noses hitting against each other because both of them were too fucking eager to care about whether they were kissing nice and prettily or not. It was sloppy and messy and _fucking perfect._

Dean moaned into Cas' mouth when Cas' fingernails dug through the fabric of Dean's flannel shirt, while Dean lowered his hands to rest on Cas' ass, squeezing over the denim.

And then suddenly, practically at the same, both of them realised what they were doing. Instantly, they both stilled.

"Uh," Dean said awkwardly, knocking his nose against Cas'.

Cas merely blinked at him from above, pupils blown. He stayed silent apart from the pants against Dean's lips, the deep breaths in and out that were due to Dean and their shared enthusiasm that was quickly depleting.

Dean looked up at Cas, hands frozen on Cas' ass, "Too much too soon?" Dean said weakly.

Cas looked at him, cheeks a beautiful shade of pink as he agreed, still out of breath, "Too much."

Dean grinned, pulling his hands up to rest more conservatively on the small of Cas' back, "Think we kind of got carried away there."

"Mmhm," Cas mumbled in agreement, letting Dean manoeuvre him so he was lying in between his legs, head rested on Dean's chest so his ear was pressed against Dean's heart.

Dean nuzzled Cas' hair, surprised at how quickly it had gotten so damn heated. He didn't even fucking know how that had happened; one minute they were talking and the next they were on the couch with Cas fucking grinding against him and Dean feeling up Cas' ass.

In other relationships, Dean had gone to sex way too soon into the relationship. It was his go to thing, because it was easy for him, it made him feel _good _and _wanted. _But with Cas, he didn't want to rush things. He knew that was kind of a stupid thought seeing as he'd already planned on looking after a kid with him every weekend for the foreseeable future. But sex? It didn't feel right just yet. They needed to go at their own pace and he was kind of glad that Cas seemed to be in agreement with him on that. Slow and steady won the race and all that other fucking shit.

"Hey, you got any plans today?" Dean asked quietly as he watched Noah appear from fucking nowhere to jump up onto the couch so he was settled next to Cas on top of Dean.

Cas snuggled himself closer to Dean, obviously having no intentions of moving any time soon as he twisted a little so he could pet the cat, "I have some documents to finish off, but they can wait until tomorrow. What about you?"

"Same," Dean replied, running a hand through Cas' messy hair, "How about we watch another movie?"

Cas lifted his head to smile at him, "Okay."

"Okay," Dean murmured, pulling Cas back to him so he was using him as pillow again. Cas sighed happily as Dean pressed a kiss to the top of his head, "That probably means we'll have to move though."

There was a beat of silence and then a mutter, "Oh."

"How about-" Dean scrambled, one arm wrapped around Cas' waist tightly to make sure he didn't fall off him as he grabbed the remote that was just in reach, "I just flip through some channels and hope we find a movie that way," he smiled, squeezing Cas' waist, "So then we don't have to move."

"That sounds good to me," Castiel said and even though Dean couldn't see his face, he could hear the smile in his voice.

Dean managed to find a shitty movie that neither of them were much interested in, but it was better than either of them moving to find a DVD and pop that in. Even their coffees were forgotten and Dean was quite proud that he had managed to make the coffee maniac that was Cas not care about getting some coffee inside of him.

Near the end of the movie, Cas was getting sleepy, eyes drooping as he nuzzled at Dean's chest. Somewhere during the film, they'd somehow gotten to holding hands, which, yes, was incredibly soppy. Dean couldn't help but smile though whenever he looked down to see their entwined hands that Noah was currently resting his chin on.

"Dean?" Cas mumbled tiredly, squeezing his hand, eyes shut.

"Yeah baby?" Dean asked, obviously not controlling what he was saying because the pet name just slipped out. He wished he could blame it on the fact that he was sleepy, but Dean knew that was total bullshit.

Cas hummed in what must be appreciation of the pet name, telling Dean that it would be okay to use it again (which was useful, because Dean knew he was going to be calling Cas all sorts of embarrassing names due to the fact he was just so goddamn _cute)._

"Do you want to stay over tonight?" Cas asked with what sounded like trepidation. Dean was surprised by the question and he didn't quite know how to take it.

When Dean didn't reply straight away, Cas leaned up from Dean's chest a little so he could look at him, though his gaze stayed on Dean's chin, like he was too nervous to look Dean in the eye, "Not-" he smiled shyly, "Not to finish off what we started earlier but to- just to stay over."

He thought of the prospect of getting to sleep in the same bed as Cas, being able to wrap his arms around him and make him feel warm and protected, knowing that Cas would make him feel exactly the same way. And god, Cas being the last person he saw when he fell asleep and the first person he saw when he woke up? Dean wasn't going to be a fucking idiot and say no to _that._

Dean reached up to peck at Cas' chapped mouth, "Yeah," he squeezed Cas' hand tightly, "Okay."

"Okay," Cas agreed, dropping his head back onto Dean's chest with a smile that could cure the whole fucking world of unhappiness.


	4. A Whole Lot of Firsts

_Notes: So I really wanted to write the important 'firsts' in Dean and Cas' relationship but I didn't want to do a separate chapter for each one, so here's a mishmash of a chapter with all of their firsts rolled into one! (Which totally turned out a hell of a lot longer than I intended, so long that it needs to be split into two chapters… Oops.)_

_p.s. thank you for the reviews so far!_

* * *

_•I would rate waking up to you ten out of ten (but not recommend to others because_

_duh, totally not sharing this great deal I have going on)•_

Dean was forced into coming out of his nice and cushy dream due to the fact that he was inhaling hair and had an elbow jammed into his ribs. It wasn't exactly the best way to wake up, least of all in the early morning. And the more worrying thought of course was _where_ the fuck he was and _who_ the fuck was lying next to him.

As soon as his eyes cracked open and he remembered whose bed he was in, he instantly relaxed. Cas was still asleep, snoring softly against Dean's shoulder. Dean realised that Cas' arm was stuck between them because they had quite literally jammed themselves as close to each other as possible over the course of the night. They'd been wrapped up together when they'd drifted off with soft kisses and murmured goodnights, but at some point during sleep, they'd melded into one person, limbs all over the place so much so that Dean was struggling to figure out which legs were his.

Still, Dean didn't care that he was mildly (well, a _lot_) uncomfortable; he stayed exactly where he was because he was with Cas and that was the only thing that really mattered right now (which wow, might be the soppiest thought Dean had ever had. Apparently Cas brought it out of him).

It was a little concerning how at home Dean felt in Cas' arms, in Cas' bedroom. Normally, after staying over at someone's house (though that was normally after a night of sex, not cuddling), Dean felt awkward and would grab his clothes and try and leave before the other person woke up. If the other was already moving around, it was even worse for Dean and he had to mumble out stilted goodbyes as he left, feeling unnecessarily unclean about the whole thing. But here with Cas, he didn't feel like he had to slip into yesterday's clothes and leave. Instead, he wanted to stay here in the nice warm bed with Cas, maybe even cook Cas breakfast if he was allowed. And that right there was a frightening, dangerous feeling to have. But also a feeling that Dean grabbed a hold of and cherished, one that he didn't want to have to give up any time soon.

Dean watched Cas peacefully sleep, noticing how Cas' face transported into childlike features as he slowly breathed in and out, mouth hanging slightly open into a cute little 'o', forehead relaxed as he unconsciously nuzzled Dean's shoulder. Cas was beautiful all the time, but especially now in his plain grey t-shirt and pyjama bottoms that legit had a cat print on them. Jesus, Cas was _gorgeous._

Quite happily, Dean could have creepily watched Cas sleep forever, but his bladder started screaming out at him. Regretfully, Dean crept out of bed. He couldn't help but lean down and kiss Cas' forehead though, or run fingers through his hair, smiling when Cas made a happy noise in his sleep.

Dean pondered whether he should put any clothes on besides the boxers he slept in last night. After a minute of thinking about it, he just settled with adding his t-shirt, figuring that if Cas didn't have a problem with sleeping next to him when he was only wearing boxers, he wasn't going to make an issue of Dean walking around like it.

He quickly used the bathroom, borrowing Cas' toothbrush (because the guy had let him use it last night, which meant a fucking lot in Dean's book) to get rid of any morning breath. The last thing he wanted was to have stinky breath when they had their first kiss of the morning.

His movements were loud enough for the cat to appear next to him from his slumber, and Dean had to spend a good ten minutes fussing over Noah (and perhaps even speaking in a baby tone but hey, no one could prove that) before he could actually get started on making breakfast.

Cas' kitchen was neatly ordered so it didn't take long for Dean to find all the right ingredients, choosing to settle on pancakes for breakfast. He hoped it wouldn't be a problem that he was kind of being presumptuous and making breakfast with Cas' food; he just wanted to do something good for Cas, that was all.

The smells of the food must have woken up Cas because not long after Dean had placed the perfectly made pancakes onto plates (that were freaking _patterned_), Cas appeared in the doorway. It was probably wrong of him to do so, but Dean automatically laughed when he saw Cas. Cas, whose hair was matted all on one side where he'd been lying on Dean, whose mouth was downturned into a scowl that was obviously for the mornings and not because of Dean's presence. Even his clothes were dishevelled, pyjama pants hanging a little low (which yeah, Dean was definitely paying attention to seeing as he could see a slither of hair) and t-shirt hanging awkwardly off one shoulder.

"Morning," Dean said cheerfully, "I made us pancakes!"

Cas grumbled something incoherent and stumbled over to Dean, wrapping his arms around Dean's waist as he nuzzled his chest.

"Wow," Dean grinned, perhaps enjoying the sight of a frazzled Cas a little too much, "You're grumpy in the mornings."

Cas clasped Dean's face in his hands and gave him a bruising kiss, "M'not," he mumbled against Dean's mouth before slotting himself in Dean's arms.

"Sure you're not," Dean played along, rocking them slightly from side to side, "You're the most awake, happiest person I've ever met this early in the morning."

"Dean," Cas complained with a slightly hoarse voice.

"God, you're kind of adorable," Dean kissed the top of Cas' bedhead, "A _lot _adorable actually."

At that, Castiel leaned out to look up at Dean. Slowly but surely, his face switched from a scowl to a wide, soft smile, eyes warm as he kissed Dean on the lips. Dean exhaled contently, arms tightening around Cas' waist.

"Mm," Cas hummed, nose wrinkling as he smiled when Dean nuzzled their noses together, "I'm glad you stayed last night."

Dean kissed the tip of Cas' nose, "Is it because I made pancakes?"

"Yes," Cas nodded with an amused smile, "And I suppose I like you outside of your culinary skills too," he added nonchalantly, laughing when Dean tackled him and kissed across his neck and face, telling Cas he wouldn't stop until he admitted that Dean was, in fact, perfect.

As they ate on the couch, Cas curled up next to him as he complimented Dean's pancakes profusely, Noah clambering on top of them to get both attention _and _food, Dean was hit by a realisation when he leaned in to kiss the syrup off of Cas' lips.

Dean could totally, most _definitely,_ get used to this.

* * *

_•What do you call that guy on your arm?•_

"You're going to be fine," Dean promised, squeezing Cas' hand when they walked from the newly cleaned imapla to the RoadHouse, "They're going to love you."

"You don't know that," Cas mumbled, fingernails digging into Dean's skin as he used his free hand to fiddle with the collar of his pristine, blue shirt.

It was pretty obvious that Cas was scared, perhaps even _terrified _to meet Dean's friends. Dean had long since figured out that Cas wasn't the most confident in social situations, especially in nerve wracking ones with a group of strangers who were going to totally judge him to figure out whether he was a 'good guy' for Dean or not.

"How could they not love you?" Dean stopped them when they reached the door, pulling Cas into a loose hug so he could place their foreheads together, "You're perfect. If they don't love you, then I think I'm going to have to let them go because they're clearly all certified idiots."

Castiel huffed and accepted Dean's kiss, visibly relaxing at the words. Dean understood why Cas was scared. Hell, if Cas wanted to turn back and go back to Dean's place and cuddle instead, Dean wouldn't blame him for it. But because Cas was pretty much wonderful, he clenched Dean's hand tightly and let himself be led into the bar.

All of Dean's friends were in the section they always overtook when they met here, chairs grabbed from all parts of the room to form a little alcove for them all. Everyone was already there seeing as Dean and Cas were late, chattering away in the loud, kind of obnoxious way they did (though, they knew the owners so they were damn sure allowed to be loud if they wanted to). Dean noticed that Benny and Victor were missing though, which wasn't much of a surprise. On their meet ups, there tended to be at least one person missing; it was completely unreasonable to think that with all of their schedules, they would find a day where they were all free.

"Come on Cas," Dean pecked Cas on the cheek before guiding them around other customers to get to his friends. Cas tightened his grip on Dean's hand but he didn't start running when all of Dean's friends snapped their heads up to look at them.

"Guys," Dean smiled, suddenly feeling nervous himself, "This is Cas, my boyfr-" he cut himself short, realising what he was about to say. He and Cas hadn't had the _talk _yet and here Dean was, being presumptuous and-

"His boyfriend," Cas finished off, turning to Dean and giving him a soothing, bashful smile that could melt Dean's heart in seconds, damn him.

"Oo Dean," Jo cooed, flipping her blonde hair away from her face as she grinned teasingly, "Already at the boyfriend stage, huh?"

"Please stop talking Jo," Dean said in a way that only people who were close to each other could do, "Okay Cas," he ignored Jo mumbling a cuss word at him and focussed himself on Charlie, "This is Charlie, she's pretty much the only person who could maybe beat me on Star Trek trivia."

"Oh please, I would totally beat your ass," Charlie rolled her eyes before she grinned welcomingly at Cas, "Nice to meet you Cas. We've heard a _lot _about you, so much so that I could probably write an essay on you and get an A+ for it."

Dean felt his cheeks heat up and he groaned, "God, are you guys going to try and embarrass me the whole night?"

"Obviously," Jess piped up with a wide grin.

"Right," Dean mumbled with a sigh, pointing at the girl who was pretty much like a little sister to him, "And the loud one is Jo."

"Hi Cas," Jo smiled, waving, "Ignore anything that Dean says and you'll be good."

Dean pulled a face at that, "And um, Ash is somewhere around here working, you'll probably get to see him at some point. And Ellen, Jo's mom is at the counter," he gestured to where Ellen was talking to someone at the bar, "she'll come and say hi in a minute because she's nosy like her daughter."

Jo flipped him off with a grin.

Dean turned his gaze to his brother and his sister in law, who were smiling knowingly at him because they could tell Dean was incredibly nervous about all of this. Fuck, Dean had been perfectly fine until he'd walked in the room. But now he was kind of an internal mess. Because what if Cas didn't like his friends? He knew his friends would like Cas because, duh, he was fucking amazing. But as much as Dean fucking loved his friends and family, he knew they weren't exactly 'normal' or subdued, they were loud and brash and Cas was neither of those things. _Oh god, please let Cas like his friends._

"And you've kind of met Sam, but not properly," he smiled gratefully at Sam who was gazing kindly at Cas. Sam had seen Cas a few times when Cas had met up with Dean for their lunch breaks, but it hadn't been long enough for Sam and Cas to properly communicate. Dean was glad that today they'd be able to finally do that. Tonight, he'd get to prove that the mass of nice things he'd said about Cas were all unbelievably true.

"And this is Jess, who I've told you about," Dean gestured to Jess with a grin.

"Hello," Cas said a little weakly, obviously overwhelmed with everything, not that Dean blamed him.

"Nice to see you again Cas," Sam leaned forward to grab Cas' hand and shook it.

Jess even went as far as to get up and peck Cas on the cheek, saying quietly so only Dean and Cas could hear, "Don't worry, I've been where you are, they're all really nice even though they look terrifying."

That made Castiel smile and Dean was incredibly happy that Sam had found someone as fucking great as Jess to marry.

"Where's Victor? And Benny?," Dean asked as he sat, pulling Cas down with him to sit on the booth chair so they could be pressed up against each other. He knew that Cas liked having no personal space and that it comforted him somehow to have Dean close, so it was lucky that they managed to get some of the booth chair next to Sam and Jess. Now, Dean could wrap an arm around Cas to help him relax.

"Victor's on a night shift and Benny's still in Texas," Charlie told him.

Dean raised his eyebrows, "They're _still_ packing Andrea's things?"

"Yep, but at least when they've finally finished and are back here, we won't have to hear him rattle on and on about how much he misses Andrea," Jo rolled her eyes, never the one to be much of a romantic. At the moment, she was happy with hanging around with her friends and working at the family bar, no boys (or maybe girls, who knew) in sight.

"Leave him alone, he's in love," Dean defended him lightly, knowing that Jo was only teasing.

"Sorry, I forgot you had turned into a total sap Dean," Jo said sweetly with a matching smile.

"Aw, stop it Jo," Sam came up to help Dean out but then he added, the traitor, "But yeah, it's totally true, you've turned pretty soppy."

"Shut up," Dean mumbled, swiftly changing the subject "I hope Benny comes back soon, I miss his diner. He makes the best apple pies," he sighed, because it was true. Benny's apple pies were the best in the state and Dean really needed to get one in his mouth soon.

"Don't let my mom hear you say that," Jo warned.

"Too late," a new voice appeared.

Dean looked up to see Ellen standing with a hand on her hip, looking down with an annoyed expression at Dean's comment that implied that anything other than Ellen's cooking was the best, "Hey Ellen," Dean grinned.

"Hmm," Ellen hummed before her eyes focused on a very bewildered looking Cas, "You must be Cas."

"I- Yes," Cas nodded, actually sounding like he was unsure of his own name.

Ellen tried to bite back a smile, "You don't need to look so frightened honey."

"Oh he does. I've told him stories about you," Dean teased with a shit eating grin, knowing that if there weren't people in the way, he'd be getting a smack on the head for that comment right about now.

"So," Ellen rested her hands on the back of Jo's chair, "Are you treating Dean well?"

"Oh for god's sake," Dean mumbled, feeling embarrassment curl in his stomach and on his rapidly reddening face.

"Yes," Cas replied, voice serious enough that it made Dean snort, much to Cas' confusion.

"And is Dean treating you well?" Ellen asked, an eyebrow piqued.

Cas smiled fondly, "Yes."

"Okay, well, that's all I need to know," she pointed at Cas, "Keep on treating Dean well and there won't be any trouble," Ellen nodded and then she was off, waving at them all before she went back to the bar to shout at something that Ash was doing wrong. Seriously, for a bona fide genius, sometimes he could do some awfully dumb things.

"So," Cas swallowed, hand blindly reaching for Dean's to pull it onto his lap, "How did you all meet?"

Dean could sense Cas was asking it so the attention would be placed away from him; Dean ran with it, squeezing Cas' hand and shoulder, "Well, Sammy and I have known Jo pretty much our whole lives," he winked at Jo, "Long enough for her to have had crushes on both of us anyway."

Jo very nearly snarled and she kicked back the rest of her drink, "Can we not mention that please? Not ever?" she said flatly, "Everyone makes mistakes when they're young, I just happened to make two mistakes."

Jess laughed and Dean winked at Jo again, always happy to tease Jo whenever he had the chance, "Um," he changed the subject before Jo threw something at him, "Ash went to school with Jo and he started working here as soon as it was legal. Kids a total genius. And Charlie," he looked over at Charlie who was smiling broadly, "she's been my best friend ever since middle school," he looked back at Cas who was watching his every move, "And I met Benny through going to his diner-"

"Because Dean is obsessed with food," Sam said unhelpfully.

"Yeah okay," Dean gave him a warning glare, "And Victor is in the police force so I met him through work," he shrugged, noting that everyone shared a mutual silent look at that. They needn't have tried to be secretive though, Dean had already told Cas that he and Victor had shared a bit of a fling when they'd first met. Dean didn't want to bring Cas into a situation where he didn't fully know the details. Even though he and Victor were now just good friends, nothing more, he felt like it would have been unfair of him not to have told Cas the full story.

Cas had simply nodded and been fine with it, totally understanding that Dean and Victor had been nothing more than fuck buddies (crude words, but it was true; it had been fun while it lasted, but they'd finished it pretty quickly when they'd figured out they actually _liked _each other outside of sex and wanted to be friends instead). Dean was glad that Cas had understood; it could have quite easily gone the other way with Cas saying Dean couldn't be friends with Victor or some shit. Honestly, that had been what Dean had expected. Yet again, it just proved how lucky Dean was to have found someone like Cas who wasn't bothered by petty things.

"And then Jess," Dean smiled fondly at his sister in law who was currently half sitting on Sam's lap, ever the one to show PDA if she felt like it, uncaring of what anyone else thought, "Sammy met her in college and then dragged her back here."

Jess scoffed, "Like your brother could drag me anywhere."

"True," Dean nodded with a grin before he turned his attention back to Cas, "So yeah," he shrugged, tugging Cas closer to him by wrapping his arm tighter around Cas' shoulders, "that's how we all met each other."

Cas nodded, appearing more relaxed now as he leaned into Dean. Dean could sense the look that he was giving him, it was the silent 'I want to kiss you but I don't know whether I should initiate it or not' look that Cas gave occasionally in certain situations when he was unsure of whether it would be acceptable to kiss Dean or not. And Dean did what he always did when that gaze surfaced, he reached forward and kissed Cas' lips softly. He promptly ignored the stupid fucking wolf whistles though.

"So Cas, you're a social worker right?" Jess asked, smiling knowingly at their kiss.

"Uh- Yes," Cas replied, again, sounding like he was unsure.

"That means you're good with kids then," Jess nodded approvingly, "That's something to check off the list."

"The list?" Cas said politely, obviously not having a clue what she was fucking talking about.

"Y'know," Jess shrugged nonchalantly in a way that Dean knew meant she was about to tease him mercilessly, "Dean's list of what's important in someone he's going to marry and have babies with."

"Stop talking shit, you know I don't have a list!" Dean retorted, feeling his cheeks heat up as he smiled apologetically at Cas, who actually seemed amused by it all. Great, now they'd recruited Cas to tease him too, wasn't that fucking _fantastic_.

"Not one that we know of, but I'm sure you have one," Jo added to the conversation.

"Don't listen to them baby," Dean mumbled with a kiss to Cas' temple.

"Aw, you call him baby, that's so sweet," Charlie practically squealed and the rest of them laughed, Sam going as far as to choking up his drink (good, Dean hoped it fucking hurt him).

"Jesus," Dean hid his face in Cas' hair, too embarrassed to look at anyone right now.

"Okay Cas, how did Dean sweep you off your feet?" Charlie leant in excitedly, ever the one to get all worked up over things like this, "Did he do the usual? Flutter his eyelashes and give you one of his dodgy pickup lines? Because somehow they work, I think only because of that damn jawline and green eyes. But he's normally shit at picking up guys so-"

"Hey," Dean scowled, even though it was totally true, he _was _shit at flirting with guys.

"Did he? Use a line on you?" Charlie prompted with eager eyes.

"No," Castiel shook his head, looking back to being bewildered as everyone turned to watch him speak, "We went and found a missing boy who mentioned that we were 'gay for each other' and we went from there."

"Oh Dean," Jo said between laughing, "You needed a kid to help you pick up Cas? Now _that _is hilarious."

Dean scowled. While he'd told his friends that he'd started dating Cas after helping him find Oliver, he hadn't quite mentioned as to _how _they'd started their relationship. He'd chosen not to because he had known all along that this was the way they'd react, laughing and giggling like fucking school children.

"That's not really helping Cas," Dean muttered, cheeks still red. Cas apologised to him with a kiss, though he too was smiling, but in a fond way rather than a mocking one.

After a good ten minutes of ribbing Dean, they finally turned their conversation into something else that wasn't focussed on Dean or Cas. After a while, Cas started to relax in everyone's company, even chatting away without being forced to.

By the time Cas squeezed around everyone to get the next collection of drinks with Ash, Dean already knew by everyone's approving glances that they all liked Cas.

"You did good," Sam said as soon as Cas was out of earshot.

"I know," Dean replied because he fucking knew that already.

"Yep," Jo nodded, tapping against the glass in her hold, "He's a great guy and I totally get why you've been pretty much missing for three weeks," she smiled slyly much to Dean's blusteriness.

"If I were straight, I'd totally be jealous," Charlie added with a sigh.

"_I'm_ jealous," Jess spoke, laughing at Sam's scandalised face, "You're such a dope Sam," she kissed the corner of Sam's frown, "I'm joking."

"I know, he's great," Dean agreed, averting his gaze as he admitted, "I'm totally punching above my weight."

"Shut the fuck up Winchester," Jo snapped, rolling her eyes because she had dealt with Dean's self-deprecating nature for a long ass time, "You're gorgeous, I mean, sure, you're kind of a douchebag," she smiled to indicate that she was joking, "But don't worry, you're gorgeous."

"Yeah," Dean retorted, "And _he_'s gorgeous times ten. Not to mention the fact that he's smart and caring and totally gives a shit about things and people when he doesn't have to. For fucks sake, he takes care of kids for a living! And he owns a cat called Noah who he fucking dotes on and buys cat toys for at least once a week when the thing already has a hundred of them around the house. And he wears fucking ugly sweaters that somehow make him look cute, but he also wears tweed jackets with elbow pads on them that make him look like a male model," Dean flailed his hands as he finalised with, "He's fucking amazing."

All of the gang blinked at him, Sam finally being the one to speak, "Uh, okay Dean. We get it," he said slowly, as if to try and stop Dean from having a break down, "You think Cas is great."

"Yeah," Dean nodded aggressively, "And I-" he gulped, adding with a miserable tone, "And I totally don't deserve him."

Everyone stayed for a little while but it wasn't long until people were mumbling their tired goodbyes, Cas and Dean being the second to do it after Cas got quieter and quieter the further into the night they became. They said their goodbyes, everyone either hugging Cas or even a kiss on the cheek, something that told Dean that they had most definitely accepted Cas into their gang, which was a big deal. It wasn't often that Dean's friends, who all had different tastes and opinions, could consecutively be happy about someone that quickly.

"You have fun tonight?" Dean said as they reached his car; Cas was staying over at Dean's tonight seeing as it was a Saturday. They hadn't done anything apart from make out and cuddle, but staying over was something they both wanted to do as often as possible.

Cas didn't reply to Dean's question. Instead, he reached upwards and kissed Dean harshly on the mouth, his hands coming up to ravel in Dean's hair. Surprised, Dean kissed him back, unsure of what was coming over Cas. It was rare for them to show this much PDA; sure they kissed around town, but they didn't have a make out session in a fucking parking lot.

"What-" Dean exhaled, a little out of breath, "What was that for?"

Cas cupped Dean's cheeks and looked deeply into his eyes, "Don't ever think that you don't deserve anything good in your life."

"Wait," Dean frowned, hands squeezing Cas' waist, "What?"

Cas didn't relent, fully serious as he said, "Everything I have ever said about you, all of those nice things, I meant them. Please don't ever think that you're not worthy of anything, least of all me."

Dean suddenly realised what Cas was talking about and his throat went dry, "You- You heard that? What I said?"

"Yes," Cas nodded, an air of sadness to his tone, "Dean, I don't understand how you can sit there and say such nice things about me and in the same breath, say such negative things about yourself. Listen and _believe_ me when I tell you how wonderful you are, how _deserving _you are. Do you really believe that those people in that bar, whom I'm sure we can both agree are wonderful, would be your friends if they thought you were undeserving of good things?"

"Cas," Dean mumbled weakly, averting his gaze.

Cas dipped his head down to force Dean to look at him again, "Yes, you have your flaws, just as much as _I_ do. I don't want you to think I'm perfect, because I'm not. Everyone has their problems Dean, but everyone has their strengths too," he shook his head, "This relationship won't work if you put me on the pedestal as first prize and you place yourself in last. I need you to see how truly amazing you are," he gulped, clearly becoming upset but he forced himself to continue, "Please try for me, and for yourself, to understand that you are the best person I have ever met, the most caring," he reached forward and pressed his lips to Dean's, "the most beautiful," he kissed Dean again, "the most strong," another peck of the lips, "the most hardworking. Try to understand that you are worthy and deserving. Please promise me that you will try that."

Dean was lost for words. For one, he had most definitely not planned on Cas overhearing what Dean had said. Two, he hadn't expected that if Cas had overheard, he would react like this, that he would stand there cradling Dean's face to tell him that he deserved whatever he wanted.

Dean nodded dumbly, not quite sure how to put into words how grateful he was that Cas would fucking stand there and make the effort to try and help Dean feel better about himself. And sure, so many people had told Dean to get out of the funk of talking down about himself, but they'd never done it in a way that Cas had. They'd never agreed that Dean wasn't perfect- everyone had always focussed on the positives, telling Dean he was great, yada yada yada. But Cas was saying that he _wasn't _pristine and perfect, he had flaws, but that was _okay, _because Cas had flaws too and so did everyone else in the world.

Cas' face broke into a small smile and he leaned forward to kiss Dean softly on the lips, his thumbs brushing against Dean's cheek bones.

"Can we go home now?" Dean asked quietly, wishing to change the conversation. While he was glad they'd talked, he didn't want to elongate it any more than they needed to. He didn't like talking about himself, about his insecurities, and he wanted to forget about it tonight and focus on the fact that they'd had a good night out with Dean's friends.

Cas huffed, his body relaxing, "Yes, let's go to yours and cuddle."

Dean grinned, "Shh Cas," he mock whispered, "If you say that in public, my tough guy image is going to be hindered."

Cas rolled his eyes at that, pulling out of Dean's hug to get in the impala, "If you say so Dean."

Dean laughed as he got into the car, shutting the door behind him with a thud, "So, tell me about your friends."

Castiel suddenly looked a little uncomfortable as he admitted, "I don't have as many as you."

"Cas," Dean reached over and squeezed Cas' hand before he started up the car, "It's not a competition."

Cas nodded at that, seeming to relax at those simple words, "There's Bela who I work with," he offered.

"Bela," Dean toyed with the name, trying to think, "Bela Talbot?"

"Yes," Castiel nodded with wide eyes, "Have you worked with her."

"Yeah," Dean grimaced, "She can be pretty, er," he tried to think of a word that wasn't insulting, "She can be pretty forceful."

Thankfully, Castiel didn't take offence, "She is very serious about her job," Castiel agreed with a smile to let Dean know that what he'd said was okay, "She gets less frightening when you get to know her. She's been a very good friend of mine."

"Huh," Dean said, thinking that if Bela was one of Cas' few friends, then she was fine by him. He'd only met her a couple of times and she hadn't been the most polite of people, but Cas was right, she was just probably very serious about her job which wasn't exactly the worse trait anyone could have. It was a _good_ thing she took her job as intensely as she did. Still, it didn't exactly change the fact that Dean had been the tiniest bit frightened of her.

"And there's Balthazar," Castiel added with a smile.

"Interesting name," Dean hummed as he drove them out of the parking lot.

"For an interesting person," Castiel replied, eyes warm, "He is quite a character. I think it wouldn't be a lie to say he was the total opposite of me."

"Define opposite," Dean raised an eyebrow.

"He's loud and he makes jokes, often lewd ones that I don't understand, nor do I find funny," Cas frowned in that cute little way he did sometimes, "I've known him for a long time, he was a family friend. I think we even out each other. Sometimes I'm able to calm him down and control his wayward ways, _sometimes. _And he's encouraged me to do things I wouldn't have done without him, which I'm very grateful for. Most of the times anyway."

"Sounds like a good guy," Dean smiled, glad that Cas had someone in his life who tried to help him come out of his shell a little. Everyone needed that friend who brought out the best in you, but sometimes brought out the loud, obnoxious part of you too.

"Oh. No," Castiel shook his head, "He's a total- what would you call it?" he frowned as he thought of a word, "Um, douchebag?" he said, the word sounding weird coming out of his mouth.

Dean snorted, "Right."

Castiel smiled and after a beat, he reached over and grabbed Dean's hand, "I had fun tonight," he said sincerely.

"Good," Dean grinned back, eyes twinkling when he saw Cas' smile brighten, "Hey Cas?" he added, a little quieter this time.

"Hmm?" Cas hummed, leaning back on his chair and shutting his eyes, obviously tired out. It appeared that Cas didn't often do this kind of social outing, more so stayed at home and cuddled on the couch with his cat.

"Thanks," Dean mumbled, unsure of how else to thank Cas for such a mighty thing as telling Dean that he was deserving of all the good things. How exactly _do _you thank someone for that anyway?

Cas' eyes opened at that and he watched Dean smile timidly before he squeezed Dean's hand, "You're more than welcome."


	5. A Whole Lot More Firsts

_•The Argument•_

Dean and Cas weren't talking to each other.

They'd had their first argument. An argument that Dean could hardly even remember what the cause had been; Dean had had a bad day at work with the worse fucking client who wouldn't _listen _and Cas had been tired and grumpy and it had all set off from there. It might have been about dinner? Or something just as ridiculous as that. And it had just gone from there and they'd both been shouting at each other until Dean had slammed the front door shut and went back to his own apartment instead of staying over at Cas' like he'd intended.

Now, Dean figured that normally their first argument would have gone just fine. They would have ignored each other for a few hours and then one of them would have taken the plunge and text the other something goofy or they would have turned up at each other's door with a sheepish smile. And then everything would have been forgotten and be just fine.

But sadly, with a shitty twist of fate, they'd had their argument the night before they were taking Oliver out for the day. Which meant they couldn't ignore each other for a couple of hours; they were going to be stuck to each other even though they weren't talking. And there was nothing they really could do about it.

In short, Dean was not having a good day.

Oliver slid into the back seat of the impala, completely oblivious, "Hey," he said in what was now an unsurprisingly cheery tone. It had taken a long time for Oliver to realise that Dean and Cas were going to keep coming back and while he was still cautious, he now was okay with showing that he was happy to see them.

"Hi Olly," Dean half forced a smile because even though he and Cas weren't currently talking and everything was a bit shit, he was still obviously happy to see Olly's face.

"Hello," Castiel smiled, voice a little stiff, probably because Dean was in arms distance.

Oliver looked at them both and crossed his arms, "You guys okay?"

"Yep, we're fine," Dean nodded in perhaps a far too vigorous manner for it to be considered genuine as he started up the car.

"No, wait," Oliver grabbed Dean's elbow and stopped him, "What's up with you two?"

"Nothing," Castiel replied in that defensive way that showed that yes, there was _something._

"God," Oliver leaned back and huffed, "You two are terrible fucking liars."

"Language Oliver!" Dean snapped, wincing as soon as the harsh words came out of his mouth. It wasn't Oliver's fault that Dean had had a petty argument with Cas. He was just an innocent kid who happened to have to deal with Dean and Cas on the day after Dean had stormed out of Cas' home in a huff.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell," Dean pinched at the bridge of his nose.

"Its fine and m'sorry," Oliver said, shrugging his shoulders before he glared out the window, "And I'm sorry that you guys have obviously had an argument that was completely stupid and unnecessary and you're going to let it ruin the whole day. I mean, you guys adore each other, so much so that it makes everyone around you projectile vomit, but sure, be angry at each other for no reason."

Dean opened his mouth to tell Oliver that he shouldn't put his nose in other people's personal matters and that he was wrong anyway, but he found himself shutting his mouth again because shit, Oliver _was_ right wasn't he? He had no fucking idea how a fourteen year old kid could be so damn perceptive, but he was.

Because their argument _had _been stupid and unnecessary and they were only not talking because the silence had somehow turned into a stubbornness contest. And it was all so fucking _stupid. _Dean _adored _Castiel, he could talk for days and days about how much he fucking adored him and what, Dean was going to let a petty argument ruin that?

Dean turned his gaze to Cas who seemed to be having the exact same revelation. Slowly but surely, Cas' hand on his thigh upturned, a silent invitation. With a smile, Dean reached over and grabbed it, pulling it over to rest on his own lap. Automatically, Cas squeezed Dean's hand. All of a sudden, everything was fine again.

"Okay, now that we've sorted that out, can we get moving?" Oliver commented flippantly.

* * *

_•Scream my Name Baby•_

On reflection, Dean had no idea why they'd chosen tonight to be the night. They'd ran in from the car trying to avoid the rain but their attempts had failed because they still managed to get soaked from the small trip into Cas' house. There'd been giggling as Cas had shook his hair like he was a freaking dog, spraying water every fucking where, so much so that the cat had ran off somewhere to avoid Dean and Cas' idiocy. And then the giggling had turned into kissing, which had turned into breathless making out as they pawed at each other's clothes.

Dean had no fucking idea how running in the rain had turned into them stumbling upstairs to the bedroom, but in no way was he complaining about it.

When they were safely upstairs so there was no chance of them pummelling right back down them, they become even more hasty in their movements. Without even taking his lips from Dean's, Cas dragged Dean's flannel shirt down, letting it drop to the floor without much finesse.

Cas didn't appear happy though when he still had to take a t-shirt off for Dean to be fully naked from the waist up, "Why-" Cas took a fistful of Dean's plain t-shirt, "Why do you wear so many layers?" he growled in frustration.

"Asking myself that exact question," Dean replied, grabbing the bottom of his t-shirt and pulling it up over his head, casting it aside without much thought.

Even though Castiel had countless times seen Dean shirtless- from sleeping in the same bed and it being too hot for Dean to wear anything but boxers (Cas had the thickest comforter known to man and it was fucking warm underneath there), to Dean in the morning coming out of a shower with nothing but a towel wrapped around him because he'd forgotten to take his clothes into the bathroom- apparently the sight of Dean's naked torso sent Cas into a knee jerk reaction this time around. He grabbed Dean with a growl, dragged him into the bedroom and threw him on the bed with enough force to make Dean at least ten times more turned on.

In an instant, Cas was crawling up on the bed to settle in between the welcoming gap of Dean's thighs. He pressed their lips harshly against each other, but then pulled back to take his own sweater off. The motion would probably be totally hot- even if the sweater had a pocket over Cas' heart with a small sewn on kitten on it- if it weren't for the fact that Cas got it caught at his ears and he couldn't get himself out of it.

Dean snorted at the sight, "You're such a dork."

Dean heard Cas whine and then the sweater was pulled back down far enough for Dean to see Cas' creased forehead, "No, I'm not," he retorted, a childish tone in his voice, "You are."

"Okay, we're both dorks," Dean agreed with a grin, "How about that?"

"Hmm," Castiel mumbled, pretending not to be happy about it, but Dean could sense that he was smiling even though the bottom half of his face was covered by his dumb, rain soaked, sweater.

Dean smiled fondly, "C'mere."

Castiel shuffled forward on his knees and let Dean gently pull the sweater over his head, throwing it aside even though Cas threw him an indignant expression at that. Dean didn't waste time and reached forward to suck a hickey on Cas' collarbone, fingertips gliding against the expanse of skin. Sure, they'd seen each other topless before, but not in this kind of situation, where their touches meant _so much more._

Cas shuddered under the touch, much to Dean's satisfaction until Cas turned the tables and pushed Dean away so he could press an open mouthed kiss to one of Dean's nipples, swirling his tongue and biting gently on the nib.

"Jesus fucking _Christ_ Cas," Dean groaned, tipping his head back at the sensation.

Dean felt Cas' mouth twist into a grin and then he went back to his business, sucking at Dean's nipple before kissing his way to the other one. Without much else to do, Dean sat there and took it, ravelling a hand in Cas' wet hair.

When Cas seemingly had enough of that, he surged forward to kiss Dean on the lips, moaning against Dean when Dean's hands roamed free on Cas' chest and back, fingertips gliding down Cas' spine until he reached the dip. He pressed his hands flat at the small of Cas' back before he let his hand lower, pushing under Cas' trousers and boxers to squeeze Cas' bare ass.

"Dean," Cas moaned, mouth pressed against Dean's neck. Dean tilted his head to kiss Cas properly and more than sloppily, teeth and tongue all over the fucking place. It was messy and fucking perfect, Cas dropping down so he was flush against Dean's body, their erections finally slotted next to each other.

After a few lazy writhing movements from Cas, Dean realised that they needed to get their fucking clothes off and stat because the fabric between them was getting really fucking annoying. Thankfully Cas seemed to be in agreement, because his fingers curled around the top of Dean's pants, tugging at them impatiently.

"Cas," Dean tried to speak between kisses, "Move- Move back a sec."

Cas grumbled at the idea of going anywhere away from where he was right now. While Dean agreed with the sentiment, they needed to move away from each other for this show to get fully on the road. After a lingering kiss and a bite of Dean's bottom lip, Cas pulled himself up (with fucking strong arms that didn't go unnoticed by Dean) and unhooked his leg from Dean's hips. As quick as fucking possible, Dean unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down, not even bothering to try and make it sexy or any of that shit. He did, however, try and make pulling his boxers down a little more polished. That too was lost when he saw Cas' pupils darken when he saw the curve of Dean's dick, already wet with precome. At the look in Cas' eye, Dean just pulled his boxers off as soon as possible and then Cas was stumbling to come back to him.

Dean stopped him with a hand to his chest, "Nu-uh, take those pants off first."

Cas smirked and followed his instructions, swiftly taking off his pants and then boxers, leaving his bright (and damp) socks still on. If Dean were paying attention to Cas' feet right about now, he wouldn't have bothered to tell Cas to take off his socks anyway. Cas' feet were always fucking freezing and he didn't want a cold foot anywhere on his body to kill the mood thank you very much; also, Dean kind of thought that Cas wearing socks to have sex was actually ridiculously cute. Anyway, Dean wasn't looking at Cas' feet, he was looking at the erection he was sporting between his legs.

"Fuck Cas," he blurted out without much thought, "You're kind of, um, well hung."

It wasn't like Cas had a tyrannosaurus sized dick or anything like that, it wasn't the size of Dean's fucking forearm, but it was still larger than Dean's was, though perhaps thinner. It wasn't a fucking big deal, there wasn't even _much_ of a size difference, not enough to send Dean into a panic or anything.

The joking nature of Dean's tone seemed to be missed by Castiel, who flushed and looked down at himself in a dejected way. The way his lips pressed together, how his eyebrows furrowed under the wet hair stuck to his forehead, showed Dean that he'd accidentally fucked up.

"Hey," Dean murmured softly, waiting for Cas to look at him with a concentrated gaze, "You're gorgeous."

Cas instantly relaxed when he saw that Dean was being truthful and not just backtracking.

"Now come here so I can kiss you," Dean smiled, reaching forward and cupping Cas' face gently to kiss him on the lips, nice and slow.

"I think you're beautiful," Cas mumbled against Dean's throat as they inelegantly fell back onto the bed, Dean fully stretched out on the mattress, Cas slotted in between his legs so their dicks were pressed together.

"God Cas," Dean rolled his eyes, "Only you could make it gay," he joked with a fake tone of voice that made him sound like he was so utterly done with Cas.

Cas squinted at him for a moment before he realised Dean was kidding, his blue eyes twinkling when he kissed along Dean's jaw, probably tasting the rain added to Dean's sweat, "Well, we're in a gay relationship, not sure we can get much gayer than that Dean."

"Yeah, I guess you're-" Dean's voice turned into a garbled mess when Cas lazily moved his hips to cause friction between them.

"How do-" Cas seemed to struggle for words for a moment when Dean tugged at his hips and forced him to carry on moving, "How do you want to do this?" he leaned out so Dean could see his face, cheeks already flushed, "Do you want to- or do you want me to-?" his gnawed at his bottom lip for a moment, clearly nervous at the prospect of saying something wrong, "We don't have to, we could do something else.." he trailed off, fingernails digging into Dean's forearms.

"Can we-" Dean asked, his hands running up and down Cas' back slowly, noting that it was still damp from the rain, "I want to feel you inside of me," he admitted softly and with a tiny bit of vulnerability. While Dean was always attentive in the bedroom, sometimes he struggled to say aloud what he wanted_ himself_. When Cas didn't make any notion of disagreement, Dean relaxed and winked lewdly, "Want that giant dick of yours in my ass."

Cas groaned in frustration at the joke, tipping his head to rest his forehead against Dean's.

"Seriously though," Dean bit his bottom lip, "want to feel you."

Castiel leaned back, looking at Dean in that quiet, soft way he did, like he couldn't believe Dean was here underneath him. Dean understood that feeling, it was the exact thought he had whenever he looked at Cas.

Cas' gaze lowered to Dean's lips, and then even lower than that. He reached over with his hand slowly. Using his thumb, he wiped away a trail of rain from the hollow of Dean's throat up to his chin. The movement was so fucking careful, _intimate, _that it made Dean suck in a breath, his heart hammering hard in his chest.

Cas' thumb lifted to swipe across Dean's bottom lip in a reverent way, until Cas replaced his thumb with his lips, slowly tasting Dean. It was completely different to how they'd been kissing earlier, eager and desperate; now, it was slow and languid, both of them taking their time.

"I'm so glad you're here," Castiel murmured against Dean's lips, apparently uncaring that his damp hair was trickling rain droplets down his entire face.

Dean smiled, cupping Cas' face to catch any of the thicker rain streams with his hands, "Me too."

And at that, Castiel leaned to the side, pulling open a side drawer to grab a bottle of lube and a condom. With Dean's heavy lidded eyes on him, Cas squeezed some lube onto his fingers, working them together first to make the liquid warm which Dean appreciated. Cold lube always made it feel like it was some weird kind of medical thing, not like he was about to get down and dirty with a guy.

When Cas apparently thought his fingers were warm enough, he draped himself over Dean so he could kiss him as he reached down to tease Dean's hole. Impatient, Dean pushed his hips down, a silent demand for Cas to get a fucking move on. Thankfully, Cas quickly got the message.

"Mm, feels good," Dean hummed as one finger slipped in with ease. Cas kissed the happy moan from his lips as he worked his finger in and out, crooking it slightly inside of Dean to get to that oh so sweet spot.

When Dean had three fingers pumping inside of him and he was pretty much a writhing mess, cursing against Cas' collarbone alongside biting it, he knew he was ready for the big, and much _better_, stuff.

"Hey Cas," Dean said, trying to keep the whine and quiver from his voice.

"Hmm?" Cas asked and Dean could see by the amusement in his eyes that he knew what he was fucking doing to Dean right now.

"Get inside me," Dean told him, "_Now_," he added just to make sure Cas got the message.

"Okay," Cas gave a surprisingly gentle kiss to the corner of Dean's mouth, before he leaned out so he could roll the condom on and position his hard cock to press against Dean's achingly empty hole.

"Get a fucking move on," Dean grunted.

"Okay," Cas agreed, clearly amused as he moved forwards, not stopping until he was fully balls deep in Dean. Cas' amusement quickly dissipated as he groaned alongside Dean, moving forward so he could moan against Dean's collarbone, "You're so tight."

They started off slowly to let Dean get used to the feeling. While he wasn't a fucking delicate flower, he hadn't had sex in a while, and even if he had, he had a feeling that being with Cas was a totally fucking different kind of sensation.

Cas pushed into him and Dean met the thrust, casually moving his hips up to meet Cas' cock. It felt good, _more_ than good, to have Cas finally inside him, drawing in and back out at a steady pace, hands placed on Dean's chest to keep him steady.

Occasionally, Cas would lean down to kiss Dean harshly on the lips, the first few times Cas asking whether Dean was okay and that he wasn't hurting him. When Dean had pulled at Cas' hips and dug his fingernails into those magnificent hipbones, Cas stopped asking and just went back to kissing.

After a while, Cas got a glint in his eye and grabbed at the back of Dean's knees and pulled them upwards, going so far that Dean thought his legs were going to end up behind his own fucking head.

"Are you trying to snap me in half?" Dean remarked, voice out of breath as Cas thrust back into him.

"Dean," Cas huffed and in the new position he could lean comfortably down and rest his lips against Dean's without any trouble.

"I'm bendy, but I'm not that bendy babe," Dean said with a smile, enjoying the fact that Cas' forehead was sheened with sweat at the sensation of being inside of Dean. Dean knew that his own forehead was sweaty too from what they were doing.

"I'm quite bendy," Cas commented casually, "Though I've never had any reason to," he wrinkled his nose before he went back to a cool expression, like he was talking about the weather, "I'm fairly certain that I would be able to suck myself off."

"What?!" Dean spluttered.

Cas slammed himself into Dean. All sense of softness was gone. With the new change of position, he rammed right into Dean's prostrate, hard enough for Dean's vision to go white for a moment. And when his eyesight finally went back to normal he saw Cas smiling down at him, because obviously the little fucker had known that changing the way they did this would slam into Dean's sweet spot.

"Fuck," he grunted when Cas slowly dragged himself out of Dean only to slam back into him, "You're such- " his words were becoming a bit of a ramble as Cas hit against his prostrate again and again, "such a dark horse aren't you?" he let his knees be lifted even higher, ass now hovering off the ground, only Castiel holding him in place. Even though he was being fucked like there was no fucking tomorrow, Dean forced himself to say, though there were a lot of gasps in between each word, "Always- Always the guys that- _fuck-_ wear- wear sweater vests."

Cas laughed into Dean's neck, Dean joining in before Cas started fucking him with wild abandon, then Dean was back to trying to suppress embarrassingly loud moans and failing at it.

"Fuck," Dean groaned, wrapping his arms around Cas' neck to hold him next to him as Cas carried on fucking Dean with urgency, "You feel so good baby," he attempted to kiss Cas on the lips but missed and caught his chin instead, "You're so good for me."

"Dean," Cas moaned back, hiding his face in Dean's neck, never slowing down his pace for anything.

"Don't stop Cas," Dean tilted his head to brush his mouth across Cas' ear, "Keep going for me."

"You-" Cas' body trembled and slowly but surely, his thrusts were becoming erratic, no longer calm and controlled, "You feel so-" he shuddered, nails digging into Dean's chest, "So good."

"So do you," Dean groaned back and then he was just lost for words as Cas pushed a hand between their sweaty and rain soaked bodies to curl his fingers around Dean's abandoned cock, setting up a pace that flowed with Cas' thrusts. Dean hadn't even realised how fucking close he was to the edge but as soon as Cas' thumb swiped at the tip of his cock, he was moaning incoherently as he came all over Cas' hand and both of their stomachs. Dean clamped down on the junction between Cas' neck and shoulder as the sensations overtook him, hole clenching around Cas' cock.

Cas' hips stuttered and then he was back to pounding Dean like this was their last day on earth, face still hidden in Dean's neck as he whined.

It took Dean a good few minutes to recover enough from his orgasm to speak, but when he did, he said hoarsely, "That's it baby, let go for me. I've got you, just let go," he pressed his mouth to the shell of Cas' ear, "Come for me."

And at those simple words, Cas gave one more thrust and then his body was shuddering as his orgasm took over him.

They both lay there for a moment, harsh breaths as their bodies panted next to each other. They were sticky but they kept their bodies pressed tightly together, Dean nuzzling behind Cas' ear. When Cas was finally back to the living and could actually move, he gently pulled himself out of Dean, both of them wincing, more so Dean who now felt achingly empty. The emptiness was forgotten, however, when Castiel gave him a tender kiss to the lips.

Dean smiled against Cas' mouth, nudging their noses together because he wasn't sure he'd be able to speak quite yet. Dean was pretty sure there'd been a few hoarse screams hidden in what they'd just done and he's fairly certain that at least 80% of them had come from his mouth. Jesus, Dean was going to have a sore throat for _days_.

Cas had enough energy to roll off the used condom, tie it and throw it in the direction of the trash can. Quite remarkably, it landed in its target. He dropped his head onto Dean's chest, uncaring of the fact that both of their stomachs were painted with Dean's come. With a wrung out, and really fucking happy smile, Dean ran his fingers through Cas' damp hair, a mix of sweat and rain.

"That-" Dean was honestly lost for words for a moment, but when he spoke, he winced at his rough throat, "That was fucking perfect."

Cas' hand slid over to entwine with Dean's, "I have to agree," he said, voice even more gravelly than usual, which told Dean he'd done a good job of satisfying Cas. Well, with the way Cas had pounded him, Dean would have been shocked if he _hadn't _pleased Cas.

They were both quiet for a moment, both of them still trying to catch their breaths back. It was a comfortable silence, Cas choosing to bring their joint hands to his lips, kissing every one of Dean's knuckles delicately.

Dean kissed the top of Cas' head to get his attention, "Hey Cas?"

"Hmm?" Cas hummed, lips still sweeping across Dean's hand.

He smirked into Cas' hair, "When we've got our breath back, we're totally going to test out the theory of whether you can suck your own dick."

Cas laughed so hard he nearly fell off the bed.

* * *

_•The three words that either break or cement•_

It was quite frankly hilarious watching Cas attempt to cook. In all parts of his life, he was focussed and unswayed, but when there were ingredients and a cookbook in front of him, Cas fell apart. He was fine with simple meals, ones that went in a microwave or ones that didn't require much cooking, but as soon as things had to be perfectly planned out, Cas might as well be serving up trash.

Dean had no idea why Cas had decided that he was going to cook for them tonight but he'd just nodded along with it, shamelessly happy with the idea of watching Cas be adorably confused in the kitchen. Through trying Cas' previous attempts at dinners, Dean already knew that this one was going to be as awful as the last one, perhaps even worse.

"Dean, I think I might have overcooked it. Is it okay if the edges are a little brown?" Cas asked with a frown, forehead wrinkled. He was in Dean's hi-tech kitchen wearing one of Dean's t-shirts that was too big on Dean so the length was even bigger on Castiel. The t-shirt hung low so Dean could see Cas' collarbone, though his toned arms were hidden by the sleeves that were hanging at Cas' elbows rather than where they should be, cutting in the middle of his forearm. Only boxers and stripey blue-grey socks donned the bottom half of Cas, because they'd been having a lazy day that required no pants. Having a lazy day also meant they'd spent a good half of it in bed working up an appetite, which was broadcast through the state of Cas' hair. Certain tufts stuck out from where Dean had been holding on when he'd ridden Cas like their lives depended on it.

And Cas, all flustered in the kitchen, hair a mess, clothes in disarray while he pouted was honestly the most adorable sight Dean could imagine. The only thing that could maybe beat the sight was Cas in the morning, all grumpy and confused, or Cas in one of his ugly sweaters with Noah the cat on his lap. Or maybe when Cas had shown Dean some yoga moves, which had caused Cas to dip his head in that cute way he did when he was trying to hide his smile because Dean had ended up collapsing on the floor because he couldn't do any of the stupid fucking moves. Or there could be that one time when Cas had gotten caught out in the rain when he'd came to Dean's office during his lunch break and he'd gotten a cold from it, all snuffly with a red nose and bloodshot eyes. Yeah, that one might top the list. Dean had forced Cas to stay in his office and sleep on Dean's couch, Dean's coat thrown over him to keep him warm until Dean had finished off the document he'd been working on. Even when Dean had driven them home not long after, Cas acted like a wet little kitten, eyes and nose red. Cas had been, like he was with everything else, adorable when he was sick, feeling sorry for himself with sad, doe eyes, the clingiest he'd ever been. Honestly, Dean didn't even think it was _fair _that one human being could be as cute as Castiel.

"I love you," Dean said aloud before he could really think about it, voice fond.

"_Dean_" Cas whined childishly, "Come and see whether I've burnt it or-" he stilled and bright blue eyes suddenly looked over at Dean, blinking slowly, "What did you say?"

Now that it was out there, Dean wasn't going to take it back. No fucking way was that going to happen.

Dean's face broke out into a warm smile and he simply said, "I love you."

"Dean," Cas' wide eyes followed Dean as he took the few steps to put himself into Cas' personal space.

Dean wrapped his arms loosely around Cas' neck and pressed their foreheads together, "I love you," he couldn't help but say it again. It was like ripping of a bandaid that he hadn't even known about. Because _god, _he'd loved Cas for a long time, maybe right from when they had first met and Cas had walked into his office with those stupid elbow pads. Dean _loved _him.

"Dean," Cas sighed, body deflating, "I love you, I love you too, I love you," he babbled, surging forward and kissing Dean hard and fast on the lips.

Hearing those three words from Cas' mouth made Dean feel like all of his Christmas' had come at once. Because somehow he'd managed (with a little help from a fourteen year old kid) to find and keep Castiel, a man that made Dean feel like he was worthy, who chipped away at his loneliness bit by bit, who fucking brought cheeseburgers to his office when he was there for a long day. And holy shit, Dean _loved _him.

"How about," Dean gently tugged at Cas so their lips were no longer locked together, "we forget dinner and just go to bed instead?" he knocked their hips together, grinning when he felt that Cas was already sporting at least a semi, "We can order a pizza later instead of eating your dodgy food."

Dean got a playful snap on the shoulder for the comment about Cas' cooking but all the same, Cas nodded enthusiastically, "Yes."

And with that, Dean grabbed at Cas and pulled him upwards so he was holding him flush against his body, Cas' legs perfectly wrapping around Dean's waist due to repeated practice of the move.

"Love you," Castiel gasped as Dean started to take them both upstairs.

Dean smiled, eyes and voice going soft for a moment as he murmured back, "Love you too."


	6. The Talk that Begins with an 'A'

_a/n: Please be aware that this chapter is six months down the line from when Dean and Cas found a missing Olly. Also, I am on tumblr (flightlesscas) and I track the tag **#family by choice fic** c:_

_Happy reading!_

* * *

The Talk that Begins with an 'A'

"We want to talk to you about something-" Dean audibly gulped, hand gripping Cas' as tight as can be, "about something important," he finished, feeling like he might actually vomit and collapse at any point.

Oliver looked at Dean and Cas over their kitchen table, which was littered with half eaten food, "Cas," his face spread into mock surprise, his voice scandalous when he asked, "Are you pregnant?"

"Wha-" Cas squinted at Oliver, "No, I'm not pregnant," he added, and only Cas could say that with such sincerity, "And if anyone were to be in this relationship, Dean-"

"Um," Dean interrupted, his cheeks warming, "Can we get back to the topic in hand please?"

Sometimes, Cas had trouble with using his inner filter. It had sprung up many a times in random conversation, him even once accidentally revealing at a family dinner that Dean liked the occasional quickie in his work office (which had gone down as well as it could have done with his mother and father staring at them wide eyed, while Jess had laughed so hard she'd fell off her seat). Right at this very moment wasn't exactly the best time for it either, though it was probably due to nerves more than anything on Cas' behalf. There was never really an appropriate time to talk about their sex life in front of Oliver of course, but it most definitely wasn't a good moment with what they were about to discuss.

And Cas was talking shit anyway. Cas liked it in the ass just as much as Dean did. In fact, last night they'd literally had a competition where the winner would get to bottom. Him even implying any different was just him acting like an asshole. A very attractive, cute, adorable asshole and- wait, what was Dean thinking about again?

"Right," Cas thankfully cut into Dean's daydreams, which then made Dean feel all the more nervous because of what was about to happen, "We want to talk to you about wanting to-" Cas stopped speaking quickly and Dean knew him well enough to know that he looked like he was about to tear up, just like he had when they'd first discussed this alone in their bedroom. And Dean didn't really blame him one bit.

"We want to-" Dean started, hoping to swoop in and save the rapidly decaying conversation, but he had to stop speaking when his throat started to embarrassingly thicken.

Oliver looked at both of them, confusion and a hint of worry in his eyes. Dean was silently thankful that Oliver was comfortable in _showing _the fact that he was concerned. It had taken a while for Olly to be so open in showing his emotion in front of Dean and Cas. Even now, over half a year later from their initial meeting, he sometimes would try and hide it away, especially when there was something troubling him and only him. It reminded Dean of himself, pushing things aside when he thought it wouldn't be important to anyone else.

"Guys," Oliver tapped at his milkshake with a frown, "What the fuck is going on?"

"Language," both Dean and Cas chided at the same time. It was an ongoing struggle to get Oliver to stop swearing. His foster parents were always apparently complaining about it to Cas, that the kid was swearing in school and getting into trouble for it. Against other peoples misconceptions, Dean knew that Olly didn't curse particularly on purpose, it was just ingrained into him and he'd forget sometimes, that was all. Both Dean and Cas had noted that he never swore when he was in front of kids though, which his foster parents often seemed to conveniently forget.

Oliver rolled his eyes but he didn't swear again, "Well, why are you getting all teary for?" his brown eyes widened and his body went taut as he asked, "Something's not wrong is it?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Castiel soothed and Dean could feel the clamminess of Cas' hand against his. Or maybe it was his own hand that was clammy, who the fuck knew anymore.

Oliver looked at the two of them and he seemed dubious, the concerned wrinkles on his forehead still having not gone away.

"We want to adopt you," Dean blurted out, perhaps in a slightly hysterical tone, but hey, at least he'd finally said it aloud.

"You-" Oliver started to say and then cut himself off, eyes wide, momentarily looking like he was about to faint.

"We want to adopt you," Dean repeated, less frantic this time. He realised him blurting it out like a lunatic probably wasn't the best way to ease into the conversation, but it had to be done somehow. He and Cas had had all of these good ideas of how to start the talk, but all of it had gone out of the window when they'd picked Oliver up from his poster parents. It was kinda difficult to talk calmly and with comprehension when your insides felt like jelly.

Oliver stayed frozen for a moment before he said, voice quiet and slow, "You want to adopt me?"

Cas had obviously recovered well enough to speak as he said, hand gripping Dean's under the table, "Only if you want us to. It's important that you want it too Oliver. Don't feel like you're obligated to say yes, you can say no and we'll never speak of it again if you want us to," Cas smiled warmly, though Dean could see the terror behind the smile, the terror of thinking that this was going to go terribly wrong and Oliver was going to say no. Both of them had of course considered the option of Oliver denying this, but discussing it was totally different from hearing those words come out of Oliver's mouth. Not to mention the repercussions that might occur because of it, perhaps even Oliver deciding he didn't want to meet up with them anymore. It was best not to even consider that at the moment though, else Dean might end up being hospitalised.

Oliver licked his lips, "Would they even let you adopt me? You guys have only been dating for a few months and you're both dudes," he pointed out. Dean couldn't sense the emotion underlain in the sentence, whether Olly was truly considering this or not.

"Well first, I'm a lawyer," Dean said, trying to control his thumping heart and the fact he could fucking feel the blood rushing to his ears, "if anyone tries to discriminate me and Cas because we're a gay couple, I'll sue them to high heaven."

Oliver smiled at that and looked like he was trying to stop himself from laughing if the fact that he was biting his bottom lip was anything to go by.

"Secondly," Castiel added helpfully, "Yes, we haven't been dating for a substantial amount of time, but six months can still be considered quite long in the courts depending on the circumstances."

Dean couldn't believe it had been six months already since they'd searched for a missing Olly. That terrifying day had somehow ended up being one of the best days of Dean's life, a promise to a kid that he would visit him as often as possible, and a different promise to a certain social worker that had ended up with them kissing. It was strange, it felt like it was only yesterday that they'd started doing this, picking up Olly and taking him out of his stifling foster home, but it also felt like it had been so much longer than six months too, like he'd been doing this for years and years. And that just proved to Dean that he was doing the right thing.

"And we live together too which would go in our favour," Castiel explained. It had been four months into their relationship when they'd taken the plunge. The lease of Dean's apartment had been running out and it had felt completely natural to say yes when Cas had turned around and asked him if they wanted to move in together. Cas had a house, so it made more sense for Dean to move in there, though neither of them at first had commented on the fact that it 'made more sense' because there were two bedrooms in the building. That had gone unsaid between the two of them until the discussion of adopting Oliver had finally occurred a month ago.

"We both have upstanding jobs," Castiel continued, Oliver listening intently with a maddeningly unreadable expression, "Dean is a lawyer. And the fact that I've been your social worker for so long will definitely work in our favour."

Oliver chewed at his bottom lip, "So, you'd still be able to adopt me even though you're my social worker? I thought there'd be rules or something."

Dean couldn't quite tell whether Oliver was saying that like he'd considered this before, or whether he was only _just_ thinking about it. _Could_ he have thought about this before? To have toyed with the idea of Dean and Cas adopting him? Could he have wanted this? _No Dean, don't get your hopes up just yet, it was all hypothetical questions so far._

"It's surprising actually, how many social workers adopt the children they're taking care of," Castiel gave him a small, nervous smile.

"Huh," Oliver shrugged.

"The reason we're discussing this with you," Cas squeezed Dean's hand, clearly realising that Dean was struggling to speak at such a pivotal moment, which was ridiculous really seeing as Dean was a lawyer and it was his _job _to speak, "is because if you want this, want us to adopt you-" Cas' voice faltered for a moment but he quickly recovered, "We want your permission and support for us to contact your mother. At the moment, she still holds parental rights to you and we would like to ask her to sign off those rights so we can hold those rights for you instead."

"Oh, she'll say yes in a heartbeat, she doesn't care," Oliver said offhandedly with a bitter tone, making Dean's heart clench. No one should think that their mother didn't care about them, least of all a kid like Olly.

"What if she did say no?" Oliver asked, resting his elbows on the table as he leaned in, eyes wide with dark, thick eyelashes framing them, "Would you not be able to adopt me then?"

"If we do contact her and she says no then we could still adopt you, but it might get a little messier," Castiel replied honestly. Dean was hoping, that if Oliver did indeed want this, they wouldn't have to go down the route of going to the courts to prove that Oliver's mother didn't deserve parental rights. Oliver didn't need yet another court case in his life.

Oliver nodded like he understood, going back to chewing his bottom lip as he fiddled with one of his bony wrists, a nervous habit that he must have learnt from Cas.

"We-" Dean finally spoke up, though it was difficult to speak without wavering his voice, "We don't need you to tell us the answer straight away. Cas and I have been discussing this for a while, but this whole thing is new to you. You can take as much time as you want with this. There's no pressure."

Oliver looked at the two of them, expression cool as his mind obviously wandered. Dean didn't speak; he didn't want to push Oliver in any way. It was important that they gave him space for this. Oliver might not even _want _this and he was probably thinking up a polite way to say no to them. Oh god, he wasn't going to want this was he? Dean and Cas had been stupid to even _think _that this was a possibility, that Oliver would want them to adopt him and sweep him off to live with them forever. This was all going to go terribly wrong and it was all Dean's fault and-

"How long would it take?" Oliver asked out of the blue.

"How-" Castiel looked at Dean with a frown, clearly just as nervous and on the edge as Dean felt, "How long would what take?"

Oliver swiped his bottom lip with his thumb nervously, "How long would it take until you were officially my adopted parents and I could move in with you?"

Dean felt like he might actually be hyperventilating and Cas looked the same, mouth open like a fucking goldfish. And the sight would totally be humorous if Dean's expression wasn't exactly the same.

"You- Does that-" Dean fumbled with his words, "Does that mean you want us to adopt you?"

Oliver hunched his shoulders a little, clearly a little vulnerable as he nodded in agreement. And right there and then, Dean quite literally felt his heart spring into his throat. Before he even knew what he was fucking doing, he'd stumbled to the other side of the table and wrapped his arms around Oliver in the biggest of bear hugs. After mere seconds, another set of arms were around him. Dean turned a little so one of his arms was around Oliver, the other around Cas, while trying his hardest not to let the sob deep from his chest escape. He managed to conceal the earth shattering sob but he couldn't quite contain the tears as he realised what was going to happen, that he and Cas, the guy he loved most in the fucking world, were going to adopt Oliver, the kid that Dean loved more than _anything._

Oliver leant back a little so he could see the two of them and their stained cheeks, "God guys, don't get all soppy on me, it's embarrassing," he rolled his eyes that looked suspiciously wet to Dean.

"Okay, okay," Dean agreed, pulling Oliver back into a hug, feeling the biggest of grins on his faces as he turned to gage Cas' expression. Cas was just as delighted, eyes shiny and lips stretched into a smile as he looked over at Dean.

Dean could see what was being silently said with those baby blues- _'We're going to be a family.'_

* * *

It was weird, Dean had thought that talking to Olly would be the most difficult part and that telling his family would be a doddle. He had somehow gotten it the wrong way around.

He and Cas had decided that Dean would tell the news to his family by himself. It wasn't done that way because Dean wanted Cas out of the picture or anything, it just seemed easier to do it like that seeing as Cas had to work late for the week because of his company being ridiculously short staffed. In all honesty, Dean expected to go to his parent's house, tell them the news, maybe have a few questions thrown his way and that would be it. Cas didn't exactly need to be there for that. Especially seeing as Cas was too exhausted to answer question after question with the way he'd been working to the max the past week.

He drove his beloved impala into the driveway of his childhood home, noting that Sam had already arrived, more than likely with Jess at his side, though Dean couldn't quite remember if she could make it to their weekly dinner or not. She'd been having the night shifts at the hospital the past week if Dean remembered right, so it was possible that she was in bed sleeping off her difficult job.

When he opened the front door, he followed the gorgeous scents to the kitchen where his mother, as always, was cooking some magnificent thing. She was the reason why Dean was such a good cook now, something that Cas appreciated a lot (Cas wasn't exactly the most efficient in the kitchen).

His family were all already in there, besides his sister in law. John and Mary were at the kitchen counter cutting some vegetables up, while Sam was sitting at the dining table. That didn't mean he wasn't involved in the cooking process- he was peeling potatoes with a concentrated expression on his face. While Dean had taken to cooking, Sam had always struggled, preferring to use his hard earned cash on going to restaurants rather than cooking his own meals. Jess wasn't much better, she was a baker rather than a cook, and Jess and Sam couldn't exactly have cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner, however tempting that idea may sound.

"Hey guys," Dean smiled, leaning against one of the counters, jacket and shoes left at the front door. All three of them welcomed him with a smile and Dean padded his way to his mom to give her a kiss on the cheek, "I see you've started without me."

"Well, that's what happens when you're late," Mary replied with a fond smile.

"Excuse me for being with a client, meanwhile your younger son was peeling potatoes and not contributing to mine and his' business," Dean grinned, winking at Sam when he gave him an outraged expression for the comment.

"Jess not here then?" Dean said, going back to leaning against the counter as his mother grabbed the peeled and cut potatoes from Sam, dropping them in the pot alongside the vegetables she'd been cutting with John.

"No, she's still on the night shift," Sam explained, twisting his chair so he could see all of his family.

"Yeah, Cas couldn't make it either," Dean replied, "They're still ridiculously understaffed so he's having to do ten times the work without any extra money. Two new people are starting next week though so it should go back to normal and you never know, I might actually be able to see my boyfriend," Dean rolled his eyes, annoyed that the company was shitting on Cas because they knew he would be too nice to turn down any extra work if it meant helping out the kids. Of course, Dean loved Cas' compassion and caring attitude, but Dean wished he could be a little selfish sometimes. It didn't matter though, next week everything would go back to the way it used to be. Dean and Cas would have pretty much the same working hours then so they'd be back to seeing each other all the time.

"That's a shame," Mary sighed, clearly saddened that Castiel wouldn't be able to come. It hadn't been surprising that Cas had won over Dean's family within one dinner. It wasn't at all surprising because Cas was quite simply the best person Dean had ever met- loving, kind and gorgeous. If his family hadn't taken to him, Dean would have been concerned for their mental wellbeing.

His father had been a bit more difficult to come around but that wasn't due to Cas, but more do with the fact that Cas was a _guy. _Even though his father had never outright said anything negative about Dean's bisexuality, Dean knew that deep down his father would prefer him to settle down with a nice wife and have 2.5 kids in a fancy home. It was difficult to deal with that sometimes, but Dean had learnt to push it aside and ignore it, knowing that his father would still accept the choices he made eventually.

But even his father had been won over to a certain extent and he was always polite with Cas, asking questions and joking around. He'd had some words to say, however, when Dean had told him that he and Cas would be moving in after only four months together. But all in all, John was happy that his son was happy.

It made Dean a little melancholic that he'd never be able to have the obligatory 'meet the parents' dinner with Cas' side of the family. It hadn't taken long into their relationship until Cas had confided with him about his stifling family, how his parents only cared about good grades and success, rather than actually caring about Cas himself. They'd never made any attempt to be _real _parents, like comforting him when he was sick, telling him that everything was going to be okay, or even simply _hugging _the kid.

Now, Castiel had nothing to do with his parents, which his parents only seemed to mind because it made them look bad to others, rather than the fact that they'd upset their son so much in childhood that he didn't want to speak to them. Castiel came from a large house of siblings but he spoke to only one of them besides the occasional awkward phone call. Dean had yet to meet Anna, the one sister that Cas was close to, as she lived three states over. It was made all the more difficult seeing as only two months into Dean and Cas' relationship, Anna had embarked on a volunteering opportunity abroad for six months where she would be teaching underprivileged children. Where she was now, she barely had phone reception and a very rare skype video call that would shut out every two seconds. More importantly, she barely had the _time _to do lengthy phone calls as she was so busy doing her job. Apparently Cas had told Anna about Dean before they were even dating so she did know of him, but still, Dean hoped he'd actually get to _see _Anna at some point.

Cas' family issues were why he had chosen to become a social worker, to help other children who lived in unhappy homes. And the fact that Cas, after living in a loveless home where he was just regarded as a child who needed A*'s else he would be a disappointment, could still be as caring as he was now just told Dean how much Cas' parents were missing out. If they couldn't see how _amazing _their son was, then that was their own fucking problem.

"Um, I actually wanted to talk to you guys about something," Dean said to his family, feeling a bubble of nerves run through him. He obviously wasn't as nervous as when he had told Oliver (god, he had felt like he might have threw up at just saying the word 'adopt' in front of Oliver, he'd been that nervous) but he still was a little anxious as to how everyone was going to take it. It made him wish Cas was next to him, but they'd agreed to Dean telling his family tonight and it wasn't Cas' fault he was so busy with work. Besides, he was sure they were going to react well. Surely it wouldn't be much of a surprise? He had been talking about the kid for the past six months.

Mary halted what she was doing and raised an eyebrow at Dean, "About what exactly?"

"It's kind of-" Dean bit his bottom lip, "It's kind of important. It's about Oliver."

Concern overtook all three of his family member's faces, "What," his mother's eyes widened, hand dropping to her heart, "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, he's fine," Dean smiled, suddenly feeling a whole lot more nervous now that he had all of their eyes on his, "Um," he trained his eyes on his mom because he felt like she was the least intimidating, "Cas and I have decided we're going to adopt him."

From the looks of everyone's faces, they hadn't expected this topic to come up tonight. John nearly dropped the knife he was holding, Mary's mouth hung open and Sam blinked up at him.

For a very short terrible moment, it was completely silent. His family just gawped at him as Dean wondered whether the silence meant something incredibly dreadful was about to come out of their mouths.

"You're-" Mary was the first to speak, "You're going to adopt Oliver?"

Dean nodded, "Yeah. We've already, um, we've already spoken to Olly about it and he wants it too so we're going to set it in motion as soon as possible."

His mother still looked surprised and his father's face was completely unreadable as he carefully placed the knife on the counter away from the edge.

"Dean," Sam was suddenly up on his feet and, to Dean's relief, he was grinning, "That's great!" he lurched over and pulled Dean into a hug, making Dean relax a little. It made sense that Sam would be the first to react positively. He was mainly the one who saw how happy Cas and Dean were when they were around Oliver. While Oliver had only really seen Sam in passing when Cas had come to pick Dean up with Olly in tow, Sam knew how much Dean and Cas loved the kid. He was there to see the way Dean would rush off his jobs at work the days that they had Oliver after school, how he would have a little extra spring in his step when he told Sam of the latest mini-accomplishments Oliver had recently achieved. And biggest of all, he'd saw how Dean was working with fewer and fewer clients, actually working normal hours instead of until the late evening, choosing to spending more and more time at home with his family of Cas, Oliver, and Noah the cat.

"Yeah, it is," Dean agreed, laughing lightly when Sam squeezed him once more before finally letting him go (Dean loved his brother, but jesus, the sheer giantness of the guy made hugs a tad bit bone crushing).

"And Oliver wants it?" Sam asked excitedly, eyes wide and almost childlike.

"Yeah," Dean grinned, "We talked to him yesterday, explained it all and he wants it too."

Sam pulled him back into a hug, mumbling, "I'm happy for you guys."

Dean could tell why Sam was so happy. For a very long time, his brother and the rest of his family had thought that perhaps Dean was never going to find anyone. After a few failed relationships, Dean had kind of given up on anything long term and just threw himself into work instead, telling his insistent brother that he didn't _need _to be with someone. That of course had all gone out of the window when Cas had turned up in his life and he'd never been happier. Dean being with someone and being happy about it seemed to make Sam relax, content in the knowledge that Dean had found someone and wasn't alone anymore. It was never because Sam thought that people couldn't be happy without a significant other, rather he knew that _Dean _couldn't be happy without someone next to him at night. And Dean had finally found that someone that made it so Sam didn't have to worry about him anymore.

Dean gently pushed Sam away from him so Sam wouldn't end up breaking Dean's ribs, eyes crinkling when he saw how happy Sam looked for him. His smile wavered a little though when he saw his mother's concerned eyes. Oh shit, was she going to say she disapproved? And fuck, he could see from the corner of his eye that his father looked none too happy either_. Okay Dean,_ _deal with one first, then the other._

"Mom?" he asked, inwardly wincing at how pathetic his voice sounded. Whenever his parents were judgemental of him, he always reverted back to a kid, tail tucked between his legs. Well, today Dean was going to make sure that wasn't the case. No matter what his parents said, Dean wasn't going to change his mind- he was adopting that kid no matter what.

His mother stepped towards him, frowning slightly, "Are you sure about this? Being a parent holds a lot of responsibility Dean."

Dean couldn't help but retort, "We've been his parents for the past six freaking months!"

It was true, Dean and Cas had treated Oliver like their own ever since he'd ran away that one time. They were the ones who helped him practice a test for school, the ones who took him out to eat or cooked him home made meals, who listened and supported him. Sure, his foster parents fed him and made sure he was clothed and none of his limbs were hanging off or anything, but they didn't treat him the way Dean and Cas did.

"The only difference is that this will make it legal," Dean explained calmly, seeing Sam nodding in agreement to his left, "And make it so he doesn't have to live with a family who just grin and bear the fact that he's there, but instead with two people who love him and want him to be happy."

It all made perfect sense to Dean. While Dean knew there were fucking fantastic foster parents out there doing an amazing job, Oliver didn't have that, no matter how hard Castiel had tried to find a great replacement foster family. And even if he did have great foster parents, they would be temporary. Oliver deserved a happy and stable home where he didn't have to wonder when he was next going to have to move to yet another stranger's house.

The corner of Mary's lips turned up into a smile, "You've thought about this," she commented.

Dean took a long breath out, relieved that his mother was no longer frowning at him like he was making a stupid, brash decision, "Yeah," he nodded, "Me and Cas have been talking about this for a month. We wanted to make sure we definitely wanted it, especially before we mentioned any of it to Olly," he smiled, "We're not idiots, we know there's a big difference between taking the kid on day trips a few days a week and having him permanently living with us and being responsible for him. But we want that, we want the responsibility," _god, _he wanted it, "We love that kid like he's our own and we want to make it official."

Mary's face turned fond, her eyes warm as she cupped Dean's face, just like how she used to when he was a little kid, "I'm proud of you."

Dean beamed, so fucking happy that his mom was behind him on this. This was the most important choice Dean had ever made in his life and he needed his family to support him throughout it. Especially seeing as Dean felt like it was the most _right, obvious _thing to do.

"Hey," Dean gently teased, "You're gonna be a grandma."

Mary laughed lightly, her smile an exact match of Dean's "I guess I am."

"I mean, he probably won't call you that, but you will be one," Dean shrugged. Neither Dean nor Cas were going to push Oliver into naming them anything he didn't want to; he could call them Cas and Dean for the rest of his life he if wanted, and as an extension, call Dean's parents by their names. It couldn't be expected of him to suddenly start calling them dad or any shit like that. No way were they going to make him uncomfortable and force anything on him.

"I think that means we should meet him some time then," his mother smiled warmly, brushing her thumb across Dean's cheek bone once more before dropping her hand back to her side.

To be honest, Oliver meeting the rest of his family was long overdue. The only reason they hadn't done it already was because they'd been a little selfish with the kid and wanted to spend the little time with him just with the three of them. Not only that, Dean had worried that if they had brought his family into Oliver's life, it would have made Oliver feel pressured into something he hadn't agreed to. Dean had been terrified that it would have freaked Olly out, making him feel like he was being forced into a family he didn't want to be in. Now though, Dean knew that Oliver _wanted _to be part of the family, which meant the situation was now completely different.

"Yeah," Dean agreed, "I think he'd like that," he couldn't be for definite, but seeing as Oliver was prepared to be legally included in the Winchester & Novak family, Dean assumed he would be okay with properly meeting Dean's parents and brother, Jess too of course. Oliver had always lacked a family and now, when the adoption was finally set into motion and was passed through the courts, he would be part of a big one that extended to Dean's uncle Bobby and wife Ellen, her daughter Jo, and so many other friends of Dean and Cas who were seen as part of their family.

"Am I-" John spoke up, voice calm and collected as he interrupted Dean's thoughts, "Am I the only one who thinks this is a terrible idea?"

Instantly, Dean felt his defences go up.

"John," Mary said in a warning tone.

"No," his dad shook his head, taking a step forward, "What? We're just going to nod alone and say it's great and wonderful that after only knowing someone for six months, Dean's going to adopt a kid with them?"

Dean frowned and he couldn't help but bite back, "Pretty sure that after 6 months of being together with mom, you were already engaged."

"It was a different time," John said offhandedly, jaw clenching at the fact that Dean had talked back to him.

"Dad," Sam decided to speak up, "It's not like Dean's just woken up today and decided that it would be fun to go and adopt a kid, like it's him going shopping and buying a new coat. He and Cas have thought a lot about this. And Cas is a social worker, if anyone knows how important it is to think these things through, it's Cas. And they want this. Most importantly, so does the kid. That means that they're doing the right thing."

God, Dean could seriously hug his brother right now, he doesn't even care if it caused him to break a few ribs. The fact that his brother would stick up for him so much on this just told Dean exactly why he loved his brother so much.

"That doesn't mean anything Sam," John replied, eyes narrowed.

Now, Dean was getting a little angry. This was the most important choice that Dean had ever made and his dad was shitting on it. And that wasn't fair. He needed his family to be behind him and not tell him that he was making a mistake and not thinking this through. He was a fucking _adult, _he could choose whatever the fuck he wanted. No one, not even his dad, was going to get away with saying shit about how adopting Oliver was a bad thing.

"Okay," Dean crossed his arms, trying his hardest to keep his voice level and not rise into shouting, "What if I'd been dating a girl for 6 months, said I loved her just as much as I love Cas, and then she got pregnant. Would you be saying the same stuff to me?"

"That's a totally different situation," John remarked with a shake of his head.

"No," Dean pressed his lips together, trying to keep it together, else he was either going to cry or scream, "It's just a girl instead of Cas. And a cute, biological baby instead of a fourteen year old kid," he half shrugged, putting a bitter smile on his face, "Just like you've always wanted for me."

"Hey, don't you make this about something it's not," his dad pointed a finger at him angrily, but instantly calmed down when Mary placed a hand on his shoulder and shook her head at him, "Look," his voice lowered as he spoke to Dean, "I like Cas, I do. But you've known him for all of five minutes. You've only been living together for two months and now you want to adopt a kid? A kid that has a bucket load of problems because of the life he's been dealt with? I'm not trying to be a dick of father to you, I'm just trying to look out for you by telling you that the common sense here is that it's too soon."

Dean swallowed heavily, murmuring just loud enough to be heard as he looked his father in the eye, "Listen to me, because this is important. No matter what you say to me, I am adopting that kid. I don't care if you think that it's a stupid decision or you think it's too soon, even though it's _not._ You can say whatever the hell you want to me and it's not going to change anything," he licked his lips and smiled thinly, "I love Cas and I love that kid. And we're going to be a family. Whether you want to be involved in that family is up to you."

John sighed and for a moment he looked upset, "Dean, I'm not going to turn the damn kid away if he turns up at my door, am I?" he looked at his wife and then back to Dean, "I might not necessarily agree with it but I'm not going to crucify the kid for it."

Dean wanted to shout at him that that wasn't the right thing to say. His father should be saying shit about how happy he was for Dean, how he was going to try and be a grandfather to the kid and bond with him. He shouldn't be saying with a reserved glance that he was just going to deal with Dean's choice and that was all.

Dean knew, however, that yelling wasn't going to get him anywhere and maybe, just maybe, his dad would come to happily accept all of this once he was given some time to really think about it, "I'm gonna prove to you that you're wrong about this. And you're gonna see that Cas and that kid have made me the happiest I've ever been."

John said with a reserved smile, "Well, I hope you do."

* * *

Dean was only home for half an hour before Cas arrived from a long day at work. Well, he assumed it was Cas seeing as they had the front door key.

"In here," Dean yelled from the kitchen, unwrapping the leftovers his mother had given him to reheat for Cas when he finally got home.

A slightly bedraggled Cas appeared in the doorway to the kitchen after a few seconds. His hair was in an even messier state than normal, dark circles under his eyes. Even his sweater vest combo looked unkempt from how it looked this morning. The sight just made Dean glad that the week was finally over and Cas would get to stop doing these insane work hours.

"Hey beautiful," Dean said softly, opening his arms when Cas shuffled to him with tired eyes.

Cas accepted the kiss and hug happily, wrapping his arms around Dean's neck, "Mm, hello," he kissed Dean again in a long, slightly sloppy way that showcased how tired Cas felt, "I'm so glad that this week is over."

"I know, me too," Dean agreed, bending down to nuzzle at Cas' jaw and neck, "Missed you," he mumbled, pressing a small kiss to Cas' pulse point.

"I've missed you too," Cas sighed, tipping his head to the side a little so Dean had better access to his neck. He hummed happily when Dean scattered the skin with kisses, inhaling in his scent.

It was slightly terrifying as to how _much _Dean had missed this. While he'd saw Cas every day, it had only been half an hour in the mornings before they were both rushing off and it hardly felt like they had any time at all in the evenings. Even their visits with Oliver had been cut short; Dean would get the time he normally got with the kid but Cas always arrived late, missing most of it. Dean knew that had troubled Cas by the sad look in his eyes when they'd had to drive Olly home only an hour into Cas coming back from work.

"I've got something that'll cheer you up," Dean leaned out to smile at a curious (and slightly bewildered) Cas, "We're having Olly for most of the weekend."

All of the exhaustion in Cas' face disappeared for a moment as his face lit up with a broad smile, "We are?"

"Yeah," Dean grinned, kissing Cas' nose, "We can pick him up in the morning and we can have him pretty much all day. We've just got to drop him off after dinner. Same for Sunday."

"Good," Castiel shut his eyes and let out a long breath of air, "Thank you for sorting that out."

It hadn't taken much effort on Dean's behalf. Oliver's foster parents knew that Oliver preferred to be with Dean and Cas. Truthfully, Dean knew that his foster parents preferred it too.

Dean kissed Cas' pink lips, humming contently when Cas licked at Dean's eager mouth. If Cas weren't so tired, Dean would be throwing Cas over the counter and riding him like his life fucking depended on it but he knew that today wasn't one of those days. What Cas needed right now was a nice hot meal, shower, and then a seriously long sleep.

Cas broke free with warm, blue eyes, "How was dinner with your family?"

"It was okay," Dean shrugged, twisting his head to kiss one of Cas' wrists, "Everyone missed you. Mom gave me some leftovers for you," he gestured to the food container on the counter.

Castiel nodded, though he clearly had other thoughts on his mind instead of food, "Did you talk to them?"

"Yeah, I talked to them about Olly," Dean forced a smile, wondering how the hell he was going to tell Cas about what his dad had said about it all.

"And?" Castiel asked, bringing up his fingers to massage the nape of Dean's neck, "Did they take it well?"

Dean chose to go with the positives firsts, "Sam was pretty much ecstatic," he huffed, bumping his nose against Cas', "He was seriously happy for us, which I guess wasn't much of a surprise. My mom was a little unsure, she wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing, y'know, the whole responsibility of being a dad and stuff. But when she realised that we'd really thought about it, she was happy," Dean grinned, obviously chuffed when he added coyly, "She may have even said she was proud of me."

Cas kissed him as a response, ravelling his hands in Dean's hair, "And your father?" he asked, wide eyed and excited.

Dean winced.

Cas' limbs stiffened as he gazed over Dean's expression, "What?"

Dean pulled Cas closer to him by the waist, hoping that their closeness would be some kind of comfort when he admitted quietly, "He was less eager and excited. He was saying bullshit about how he thought it was too soon and that he wasn't completely on board with it because you and I have only been together for a few months, all that kind of shit," he rolled his eyes, still angry with it all. Even during dinner, his father had still been making unnecessary comments. And Dean really couldn't wait till he proved him completely wrong.

"Oh," Cas said, voice small as his face fell. Instantly, Dean wanted to take away all the worry and pain on his face, inwardly cursing his father for making Cas look like this.

Dean did the only thing he could think of, he kissed Cas softly on the lips, running his fingers up and down Cas' spine gently, cupping the back of Cas' head with the other hand. At first, Cas was a little unresponsive, clearly upset with the news, but he started to relax against Dean's body, even making a small moan when Dean pressed their tongues together.

Dean elongated the kiss for a little while longer until he broke free to breathe, pressing their foreheads together with a sigh, "Well, I guess that's that then," he mused, happy that he'd finally broke the news to his family. While he'd always thought it would end up going well, he was still thankful that he'd told them, no matter the consequences.

Cas stilled under Dean's touch, murmuring with a weird tone, "I have to go have a shower," he turned in Dean's arms and moved out of them, ready to walk to their bathroom.

Dean jumped forward and wrapped his arms around Cas' waist to stop him, nuzzling his jaw, "Mm, want me to join you?"

"No," Cas replied quickly, pulling out of Dean's hold, "I'm just going to have a quick one."

"Oh, okay," Dean said, a little surprised at the coldness in Cas' voice, "I'll heat up your dinner for you while you're in there," he added, realising that Cas was just tired, that was all. He'd had an incredibly long week so it wasn't exactly shocking that he was a little short in his speech. Especially seeing as he'd just learned that Dean's dad wasn't happy with their recent decisions.

"Okay," Cas mumbled before he took off quickly.

Dean watched him go with a frown, silently wishing that Cas wouldn't work so hard that he literally exhausted himself. He reminded himself, yet again, that it would all go back to normal next week. Besides, they had Olly for most of the weekend and he knew that would cheer and perk Cas up. Dean wondered whether Oliver would have any more questions about the adoption; when they had first brought it up, he'd a legion of questions but knowing him, he'd have another long list of things to ask them. He wasn't the kind of teenager to use the internet as his own personal search engine, he preferred to ask people in real life instead (even though there had been many a times when he'd asked Dean something that Dean had no clue what the answer was so he'd ended up using google himself).

Dean busied himself with heating up Cas' meal, though it didn't take much effort. He only had to stand there to make sure it didn't bubble over, not exactly rocket science. While he waited for Cas, he hummed to himself, clanking the spoon against the pan to create a rhythm. He was never the greatest singer, nor musician, but he was in his own kitchen so it didn't matter. There had been many times where Cas had walked in on Dean making a fool of himself, Dean just bringing Cas into the mix, twirling him around the kitchen as he sang obnoxiously.

His song came to an end when he heard the bathroom door open and he quickly poured Cas' now steaming meal into a bowl, dropping some buttered bread on the side.

Dean was confused, however, when Cas didn't appear in the doorway. He thought that maybe Cas had dropped something off in the bedroom or gone to pick up some clothes to wear; Cas often forgot to take things into the bathroom when he went for a shower. Of course Dean didn't mind that habit seeing as it resulted in Cas walking around the house half naked.

When another five minutes had passed and Cas was still a no show, Dean made his way to the bedroom to investigate. Cas was indeed in the bedroom, wearing a simple grey t-shirt and plain boxers as he sat on the edge of the bed, looking tremendously small. That would have been a weird enough sight alone, Cas sitting in the room alone dejectedly with far away eyes, but alarm bells rang out when Dean saw the ugly red tear stains running down Cas' cheeks. Thankfully, Dean was someone who could cry and five minutes later, no one would be able to tell. Cas obviously wasn't one of those people.

"Cas," Dean murmured, worry going straight through the roof as he slowly walked over to Cas, "What's wrong?"

Cas looked up with wide, but now dry, eyes. He looked surprised that Dean was there and he quickly shook his head, "Nothing's wrong," he rubbed at one of his eyes, averting his gaze back onto the floor.

Dean bit his bottom lip, "Cas."

And with that, the flood works opened and Cas burst out crying, shoulder's heaving, nasty sobs tumbling from his lips.

Dean had never witnessed Cas crying before. Sure, he'd gotten a little teary when they'd discussed adopting Oliver, but those were _happy, hopeful _tears. This was something completely different. These were _heartbroken _tears. Cries that couldn't be stopped no matter how hard you tried. Cries that were hard enough to make it so Cas was struggling to breathe.

"Baby," Dean ran to sit next to Cas on the bed, wrapping his arms tightly around Cas' frame, "Talk to me," he buried his nose in Cas' hair, quickly realising that watching Cas cry was the worst thing in the fucking universe, "Tell me what's wrong."

"You're- You're-" Cas gasped for air, clearly unable to speak.

"Okay, okay," Dean pulled Cas closer, pressing a kiss to the top of Cas' head, "Just breathe for me, it's okay."

Cas nodded as he struggled for air, hands coming up to hold one of Dean's arms in a death grip, holding it as closely as possible. Dean had no fucking clue as to what had caused this. It couldn't be purely from exhaustion, surely? No one reacted this badly to a few longer work hours.

It took another few minutes before Cas could actually breathe properly and was able to mumble out, voice still thick and a little wheezy, "You're- You're going to change your mind."

Dean's nose crinkled, "What do you mean?"

"With- With Oliver," Cas' bottom lip trembled and he shook his head, panicked, "You're going to change your mind. You're- You're not going to want him."

Right there and then, Dean's heart went cold and he felt like he actually might throw up. Just the concept of not wanting Oliver made him feel light headed and Cas thought he would actually want that? Would want to give up Olly that easily?

"Where the hell did you get that idea from?" Dean asked, careful to make sure his voice didn't rise and there was no accusation in his tone. The last thing Cas needed right now was an argument.

Cas finally looked up at him, eyes shiny, nose and cheeks red, "Your father-" he sniffed, "Your father doesn't want this, he said so, and you- you always listen to your father Dean."

In a heartbeat, Dean suddenly understood, why Cas had rushed off to the shower to probably cry it out as he heard that Dean's father disagreed with their plans, why Cas was currently on the edge (and possibly _over _the edge) of falling apart. And oh god, when Dean had said '_that was that'_ had Cas thought he meant the plans to adopt Olly? _Shit._

"Cas," Dean said, pained, "I'm not changing my mind."

Cas looked confused, bloodshot eyes blinking at him, "But you always listen to your father, you told me that."

"I know baby, but I didn't mean all the time," Dean wiped at Cas' cheeks with his knuckle, inwardly yelling at himself for being an idiot by telling Cas something so fucking stupid. He couldn't quite remember saying it to him, it might have been a time when they'd both been discussing their childhoods and the struggles they had (Dean's struggles had been admittedly less horrific as Cas', but they'd still been issues, and any problem in childhood and adolescents was important, no matter how big or small). Dean might have mentioned something about how hard it had been to impress his father. It had always been an ongoing thing, the effort to make his father happy and proud. That had only made it more difficult for Dean to do some things, like come out as bisexual, but Dean had slowly learned to accept that sometimes you wouldn't make your parents necessarily happy with the things you did and that was _okay. _Clearly, he'd forgotten to give Cas the memo of that revelation.

Cas leaned into Dean's touch, slowly starting to calm down, "Then what did you mean?"

"Yeah, sometimes I struggle to say no to my dad. I like to please him, I don't know," Dean shrugged, trying to use his words right, "But on the big things, the things that really matter to me, I don't let him affect me. You know he didn't want me to be a lawyer?" Cas merely blinked at him so Dean carried on talking, knowing that he had Cas' full attention, "He wanted me to carry on the family business, take over the garage he has. For a while I was going to do it just to please him. But then I realised that I wanted to be a lawyer and that mattered to me more than pleasing my dad by doing some bullshit family job."

He still remembered the day when he'd told his father the news. John hadn't taken it well, telling him that he was a disappointment and that he was betraying his own father. Of course, that had made Dean want to turn around and just agree with John with his tail tucked in between his legs, but he'd stood tall and refused to change his mind. Being a lawyer had been what he'd wanted to do and he wasn't going to change it.

When Sam had chosen the exact same field, unsurprisingly, John didn't make even a single negative comment. It had always been the same, Dean was always the one that had to represent and follow his father's footsteps, but Sam was allowed to do what he liked. Maybe it was because he was the older child, Dean had no idea.

Now, his father was completely on board with Dean being a lawyer. He'd be dumb not to anyway seeing as how successful Dean and Sam's business was.

"You see?" Dean asked softly, "Important things like adopting Olly? I don't let anyone, not even my dad, tell me what to do. Mine, and yours, and Olly's happiness are way more important than my dad being pissed at me for a little while."

"So," Cas blinked, long eyelashes wet, "You're not going to change your mind?"

"No I'm really fucking not," Dean told him forcefully, pulling Cas into a tight hug, "I want to adopt that kid more than anything and nothing is going to change my mind on that."

Another sob escaped Cas' throat but this time, Dean knew it was out of relief instead of despair.

"I'm sorry," Cas babbled and again, Dean had never seen him like this, so discomposed, "I'm sorry, I should never have thought that you would-" he hiccupped and the noise would be cute if it were in a different situation, "that you would change your mind, I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay," Dean gently peeled Cas away from him so he could cup his jaw, wincing at the fact that Cas' cheeks were still stained red, "It's okay," he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Cas' mouth, "Love you."

Cas sighed against Dean's lips, "I love you too."

Dean smiled, nudging Cas' nose, "Guess this just proves how much we want this, huh?"

Cas smiled for the first time in the conversation, "Yes. _God_," he shut his eyes, admitting quietly, "I want this."

"And we're going to get it. We're going to get our happy ending, make our own family," Dean replied, pulling Cas back into a kiss that was only intended to be a short one but somehow ended up being a rather intense make out session. Dean poured all of his words into the kiss, hands still cupping Cas' face as Cas' hands roamed across Dean's hair and back.

Cas was the first to break free but he didn't go very far, mouth still pressed close to Dean's as his eyes roamed over Dean's face in that secret, special way of his that made Dean feel like he was the most loved and wanted being alive, "If it weren't for it being your mother's cooking, I would skip the meal," Cas mumbled, each word brushing across Dean's lips.

Dean huffed, "Is that a dig at my cooking? You saying you would skip it if I made it?" he teased, knowing it would cause a reaction.

Cas' brow furrowed as he, like Dean had imagined, took it seriously, "No. You know I love your cooking Dean, it's my favourite," he said it so earnestly that it made Dean kiss him again.

"Come on," Dean said, "have your food and then we'll go to bed," he smiled fondly, moving his head so he could murmur against the skin of Cas' throat, Cas tilting his head to give him access, "And," he smiled against Cas' skin, hoping Cas could feel it in the movement of his lips, "You can lie back and I'll do all the work, how does that sound?"

Cas sighed breathlessly, "It sounds wonderful."


	7. Meeting the Family

_a/n: _Argh, I'm sorry this took so long to upload. I've had this chapter in my drafts for ages and ages, but I've never quite had the time to edit it!

Also, I feel like this is the best time to say that any mistakes concerning the adoption process are mine and mine alone. Just remember this is a work of fiction and sometimes, things may be a little different to reality due to storytelling reasons.

Meeting the Family

Dean was trying his hardest to keep his gaze on the road, but he was having difficulty when all he could see in the corner of his eye was Oliver fidgeting in the back seat. It was like he had fucking ants in his pants, wriggling around uncertainly as he leaned forward from the seat and then lounged back, fingers fiddling and teeth worrying his bottom lip.

"Olly," Dean attempted to soothe, "You don't need to be nervous, it's going to be fine."

"I'm not nervous!" Oliver retaliated, voice way too loud to be coming from a calm person who had no worries in the world. Dean arched his brow and even Castiel looked silently dubious.

"Okay I'm nervous," Oliver added defensively, hands moving quickly around as he gestured one too many times, "Me admitting it aloud isn't going to change anything is it?"

Castiel moved around on his seat to look back at Oliver as best as he could, voice soft and comforting, "You needn't be nervous. Dean's family are very kind," he gave Dean a warm glance at those words, which Dean returned.

The words didn't seem to ease Oliver in any way though, "That's easy for you two to say!" he huffed, "Its Dean's family so of _course _they're gonna be kind to him. And Cas, you've already made them fall in love with you or whatever with your dopey sweaters and puppy eyes," he leaned back on the seat and crossed his arms, shoulders hunching on themselves, the way he always did when he was feeling self-conscious and he was failing at trying to hide it.

Castiel faltered at the comment, a tiny frown forming on his face, "My sweaters aren't dopey."

And of fucking course that would be the thing that Cas would take from Oliver's speech. Castiel was quite protective of his sweaters though; one time his cat had peed on one of them and Cas had been upset for the rest of the day. And damn him, it just made Dean love him all the more.

Oliver's face changed as he realised he was doing what he tended to do when he was nervous or feeling generally shitty, he was acting out against the people closest to him, "Right," his shoulders drooped, "I know, sorry. I just-" he locked his gaze out of the window, "You guys are going to adopt me, which means that they're gonna be my adopted grandparents or whatever. And my adopted uncle and aunt and-" he shrugged, "I don't know, that's kinda a big deal."

Dean and Cas exchanged glances, "Oliver," Cas said carefully, "We can do this another time if you don't feel like it, or if you're not ready-"

It wouldn't be a surprise if he wasn't ready. Oliver wasn't used to a big family and hell, it had taken him a heck of a long time to accept Dean and Cas and believe that they weren't going to leave him. The concept of meeting his (hopefully) soon to be extended family must be more terrifying than Dean could imagine.

"No," Olly shook his head stubbornly, jutting out his jaw, "I'll do it. I said I was gonna meet 'em so I'll meet them."

Dean smiled at Oliver's assertive persistence, "Seriously kid," he smiled, "there's nothing for you to worry about. They're going to love you, just like Cas and I do. Okay?"

Oliver watched him for a moment, "Okay."

The drive didn't take them long and by the time they arrived to Dean's old home, Oliver was getting back to his agitated state, face paler than normal as they all got out of the car. Sam's car wasn't there which meant they'd beaten him to it. That had been the plan anyway, let Oliver meet Dean's parents and then later, meet Sam and Jess, rather than them being thrown at him all at once.

"Come on," Dean swung an arm around Olly's shoulders and squeezed, guiding him to the front door. Even looking at the front of the house flooded Dean's head with memories, like when he and Sam had made a snowman in the front yard and had a snowball fight with Jo and Charlie, or the one time when Dean had been fooling around to try and make an upset Sam smile and he'd ended up bashing his face against the wall, giving himself two black eyes for weeks.

Suddenly feeling brave apparently, Oliver was the one to press the doorbell, body stiff under Dean's touch. Dean stopped him though, smiling encouragingly, "We can go straight in; we don't need to knock."

"Oh," Oliver gulped, retracting his hand, "Okay."

"It will be fine," Castiel murmured as they entered the home, leading them to the kitchen where he knew Mary and John would be if the rattling of food appliances were anything to go by.

"Yeah, sure," Olly mumbled in reply, eyes widening into terrified saucers when they finally met John and Mary's gazes.

"Hey," Dean grinned, squeezing Oliver's shoulder, "The cavalry have arrived," he gently pulled Oliver more into the room, "Olly, these are my parents, Mary and John. I'm going to let you decide which name goes with which."

Oliver looked at John and Mary's faces, face unreadable as he looked from one to the other. It wasn't far out to say that Oliver wasn't the greatest at meeting new people. Dean knew he'd had trouble at first meeting people at the school he was in. Because Oliver said things without thinking and he wasn't afraid to call you out on your bullshit, characteristics that not everyone appreciated. But Dean had never watched Oliver meet people he actually _wanted _to meet, those who Oliver actually wanted to like him. It was a strange experience to see, Oliver's usual outspoken ways hiding a little as he smiled timidly, but politely, at Dean's parents. Dean just hoped that after getting to know them, Olly would feel comfortable enough to be his loud and often snarky, usual self with them. It was hell of a lot important that Oliver would eventually be himself around Dean's family. Dean wanted them to love Oliver for himself, not a stilted version of him that he was putting on to try and garner them into liking him.

Mary was the first to step up to Oliver rather than the other way around, smiling warmly at him. Even if she weren't his mother, Dean would be comforted by that smile, a smile that made you feel protected, like everything was going to be okay. The effect seemed to work on Oliver, whose smile turned a little more genuine when he caught her gaze.

"Oliver, it's so nice to finally meet you," she said, cautiously reaching forward to give Oliver a quick hug. Mary was most aware that Oliver wasn't exactly the touchy feely type with most people, not even with Dean or Cas really, so Dean was thankful that she kept the hug light, giving Oliver a chance to move away if he didn't want it. Oliver stayed where he was, momentarily lifting his arms to awkwardly hug Mary before he leant out and let go.

"I've heard so much about you," Mary continued, adding with a fond smile, "I didn't realise you would be so tall though."

Oliver shrugged, "I, er, kind of had a growth spurt the last month or so."

It was true. When Dean had first met Olly, he'd been a scrawny kid that was average height for his age, but over the past few months, he'd suddenly sprouted so much so that he was one of the taller kids in his class. While he obviously was far from Dean or Cas' height yet seeing as he was still a kid, he'd grown into his body, less skinny now, with broad shoulders and fuller cheeks.

"I think you're gonna be tall," Dean noted, "Definitely taller than Cas anyway," he turned his attention to Cas and brought him closer by grabbing him around the waist, "But that's not surprising seeing as Cas is a cute little guy," he teased.

Oliver snorted, forgetting where he was for a moment, while Cas scowled childishly, "I _am _tall, _you're_ just freakishly tall."

"God," Dean kissed Cas on the cheek, "if I'm freakishly tall, what's Sam?"

"A giant," Cas said simply with a sniff.

Mary shook her head as she smiled, "Oliver," she directed her question to him, "How have you dealt with these children for as long as you have?"

At Mary's teasing and joking tone, Oliver relaxed, perhaps realising that he could have fun here just as much as when he was with Dean and Cas alone. Maybe Olly had thought that Dean's parents would act how so many teenagers thought older people acted- stuffy, stiff and with a nice dollop of silent judgement. Now that Oliver seemed to realise that Dean's parents weren't in fact 'old fogeys', perhaps he would actually start being himself.

"It is quite difficult," Oliver said with a glint in his eye as he looked at Dean and Cas.

"Hey, we're amazing," Dean told him with a mock defensive tone.

"More like embarrassing," Oliver rolled his eyes.

It was only when he saw John's slightly dazed expression in the corner, that Dean remembered that he hadn't introduced him properly, "Um, Olly," he nodded his head towards his father, "Let's take five seconds from mocking the brilliant me and Cas so I can introduce you to my dad, John."

Still smiling, Oliver looked over to John, eyes turning a little worried as he caught his scrutiny. By no fault of his own- well, maybe a little bit, but not _all_- John was an intimidating person to look at if you didn't know him. The way he held himself from his army days showed strength and that could be a little scary to a fourteen year old kid. Hell, John scared the crap out of Dean when he wanted to.

At Oliver's slightly terrified expression, John quickly lifted his lips into a smile as he walked forward, outstretching a hand, "Oliver, it's good to meet you."

"Yeah, same," Olly nodded, taking the hand and shaking it awkwardly. Dean still remembered the day he'd first met Oliver, how he'd stared at Dean's outstretched hand with disdain and promptly ignored it. Oliver had grown as a person a heck of a lot since then, though Dean wasn't sure whether it was due to personal growth or fear that he shook hands with John.

"So," Mary spoke up, probably to try and prevent the upcoming awkward silence, "I'm just making simple chicken burgers tonight, with salad. Dean told me that you like them Oliver?"

"Yeah," Oliver nodded enthusiastically, because the kid loved food just as much as Dean did, "I like chicken burgers. And I like salad too I guess," he shrugged and then added with a small smile, "And I know it's gonna be great if you cooked it. Dean said he learnt everything about cooking from you and his food is really good so I'm guessing yours is too."

Mary beamed, "Well, I hope I live up to your expectations."

"It's gonna be better than anything Cas has cooked anyway," Oliver smirked at Cas, much to Cas' disapproval.

"I can cook," Cas mumbled and then sighed, "A little, maybe."

The first time Cas had decided to cook for both Dean and Oliver had been the last time. It had ended up as a disaster and the food they could salvage from the burnt bits were so inedible they had ended up buying takeout. It had made Cas frown and pout all night. That was until Dean had manhandled him to the couch and cuddled him while they watched television and ate pizza until Olly had to go home.

Dean had many a times tried to teach Cas the basics of cooking meals that required more than five seconds of effort, but none of Dean's attempts worked. More often than not, the cooking lesson quickly turned into sex on the kitchen counters… Not that Dean was complaining about that.

"Dean's been trying to teach me a few things too, but I don't think I'm as good as him," Oliver added with another shrug.

Dean frowned, "Hey, you're doing great, you already knew a lot before me anyway," he smiled reassuringly but inside, his heart hurt at the fact that Oliver probably knew the basics of cooking because growing up he'd _had _to, else he would have starved, "And even if you were bad, there's no way you could be the worst cook when Cas is around."

Oliver laughed, nose crinkling, while Dean had to kiss Cas to try and fade away that deep set pout that was settling there.

Again, everything went silent as Dean leaned back from Cas, though he saw his mother looking happy as can be as she looked at Dean, Cas and Oliver. Surprised, Dean found that John too, was smiling at them all.

"Hey Olly," Dean focused his attention on the boy, "You want to come see my old room?"

Oliver's face lit up into a devilish smile, probably thinking of all the embarrassing things he'd find in Dean's bedroom, "Yeah, okay."

"Come on," Dean tipped his head to the side, grabbing a hold of Cas' hand as they walked out of the kitchen, "We'll be back in a bit," Dean called behind him to his parents.

"Okay, we'll call up when Sam and Jess are here," John replied, still sounding like he was smiling.

"Which will be in another ten hours or so," Dean joked before he led Cas and Oliver up the stairs. Jess was the worst at time keeping, which might have been concerning seeing as she was a nurse if it wasn't for the fact that she was perfectly on time when it came to work. Anything outside of work led her to being apologetically late to pretty much anything. Dean had no idea how Jess could be so perfect with her hours at work and be terrible for everything else, but she was. If Dean ever made plans with Jess, he would get to the agreed meeting place at least half an hour after their actual meeting time because chances were that was what time Jess would actually arrive. The whole thing was more hilarious than frustrating after dealing with it for so many years.

Dean's childhood bedroom was small, because he'd swapped the bigger bedroom with Sam when they were younger, Dean agreeing to have the box room so Sam could have more space for toys. The room was still large enough for the necessary items without it being a squeeze though, a single bed, a large wardrobe and desk, and a small bookshelf in the corner. There were posters adorned on the wall, Star Trek and Star Wars and other equally nerdy things.

Oliver looked around the bedroom, gazing over the desk and smiling at the posters, "When did you last use this room?"

Dean leaned back against the desk, "Just before I went to college. I was lucky enough to move out straight away when I came back. What you're seeing here is my teenage years," he grinned.

"Wow," Olly whistled, eyes glinting, "You were kind of a dork, huh?"

Dean frowned, "I was a _likeable _dork."

"Does that even exist?" Oliver joked.

"Yes," Dean replied, folding his arms. He wasn't the most popular of kids at school, but he was well liked. No one tried to pick on him and he had his fair share of girls who wanted to date him. Most importantly, he'd had enough friends that he could count on, "And anyway," Dean pointed out with a raised eyebrow, "You like Star Trek, doesn't that make you a dork too?"

Castiel hid a smile and Oliver pulled a face, "Whatever."

"Guess that's why you like me and Cas, 'cause we're just as big a dorks as you are," Dean winked with a teasing grin.

"I'm not a dork," Castiel interjected.

Oliver rolled his eyes, "Come on Cas, if Dean's a dork then so are you."

"I only watch those television shows and films because you two forced me to," Castiel argued lightly back with a sniff, "I do enjoy them, but I don't think that qualifies me as a dork."

Oliver looked over the small array of books, pulling a random one out to further investigate, "You just have a dorky personality Cas, that's all."

"And it's why we love you," Dean smiled, kissing the top of Cas' head.

"Hmmph," Castiel huffed, but he was smiling all the same.

"When I live with you guys," Oliver carefully put the book back in its place on the bookshelf, "Can I decorate my own room?"

Dean shared a look with Cas, heart surging at the fact that Olly wanted to live with them; even now, Dean often had to pinch himself because it didn't feel quite real. Because Oliver wanted to live with them, wanted them to be _parents _to him. Six months ago, Dean had had nothing expect for his job- well, he'd had his family and friends but they weren't exactly people he could go home to each night- now, Dean had Cas, beautiful, _wonderful_ Cas, and he had Oliver. In the space of half a year, Dean had found his family.

"Within reason, yeah," Dean shrugged, because while he didn't think Oliver would have any ridiculous bedroom decorating ideas, he still had to lay down the rules. That was what parents did right? It's what his parents had always done anyway and Dean had ended up half decent. They liked to treat Oliver as an equal and as his own person, but that didn't mean that Dean and Cas were going to let Oliver do anything he pleased if it was something stupid.

"Okay," Oliver nodded, not quite managing to hide his enthusiasm as well as he probably thought.

"When it's finalised and they say you can live with us," Cas blindly reached out and squeezed Dean's hand, because the prospect of their application being rejected was still fucking terrifying to them both, "we'll go furniture shopping and you can pick out all the stuff you want, how does that sound?"

Oliver threw himself over to the bed, sitting further back so his legs were outstretched, but his feet were dangling off the edge, "Can't we do it sooner rather than later?" he tipped his head to the side, a gesture that he must have caught from Cas.

"Oliver," Cas sighed, holding Dean's hand as tight as can be, "We have to be careful about this. We can't say to you for definite that us adopting you will happen, you know that when we start the process, they could say no-"

"They won't," Oliver said, voice so sure that Dean almost believed him entirely.

"We don't know that," Cas shook his head sadly, "We don't want to make any promises to you and tell you that this is definitely going to happen. And we can't let you decorate your possible bedroom until it is official. Do you understand why we're doing that?"

Oliver averted his gaze, mouth twitching, "Yeah, I get it."

"We're only doing it because we don't want to get your hopes up, buddy. And honestly, it's kind of so we don't get our own hopes up too," Dean smiled thinly, "We need to go through this slowly and with clear, realistic heads, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Oliver muttered.

"Okay," Dean smiled. The last thing they wanted was to promise Oliver that in a little while he was going to pack his bags and move in with them indefinitely. There were still things that could go wrong. They didn't want Oliver to think that it was going to happen, only for them to break his heart later down the line.

Oliver's shoulders were drooped now as he looked around the room, thoughts probably on the possibility of the adoption not going through. And Dean got it. And Cas most definitely did too. The whole thing was a terrifying prospect that made Dean's hands go numb and his heart hammer in his chest.

Thankfully, there was an interruption before they could think about it for too long. Sam and Jess were never quiet, especially not in the Winchester household, and the trio heard the commotion downstairs from them finally arriving. Surprisingly, they were actually on time for a change.

"Sam and Jess are here," John's booming voice came from the stairs and Dean looked over at Olly, who only stood up with a smile.

"Ready to meet more of the family?" Dean asked.

"Yup," Olly nodded, leading the way to downstairs.

Sam and Jess were at the foot of the stairs with Mary and John, not having quite moved from the front door yet seeing as they were too busy chatting. Jess was wearing a floaty dress; she loved to use the weekly family dinners as an excuse to dress up. Sam was wearing clothes from the office, a plain black and grey suit that was tailored for his giant frame. Even his hair was in a slightly more manageable condition than it normally was out of work hours. God, how Dean wished he could shave his head one day just to see the reaction. He bet there would be tears.

The excited chattering came to a stop when they noticed Dean, Cas and Oliver. Sam's face brightened and Jess grinned when Olly awkwardly walked down the stairs with his hands in his pockets.

"Um, hi," Oliver said.

"Hey Oliver," Sam put his hand out, which Oliver took, "It's great to properly meet you, really great."

"Thanks, I guess," Oliver half smiled, "Dean's told me a lot about you."

"I'm guessing they're not complimentary things," Sam gave Dean a glance.

Oliver snorted, "Some good, some not so good. He told me you were a giant though, so did Cas, which I guess they were right about."

Sam ran a hand through his hair, "That doesn't mean the other things they said were true."

"It totally does," Dean remarked.

"Totally," Jess agreed with a matching grin.

Oliver's gaze turned to Jess' and immediately he flushed, cheeks turning a curious shade of red that Dean had never saw on the boy before.

"Hi Oliver, I'm Jess," she reached over and pecked him on the cheek, which only made Oliver flush even more.

"Hi," Oliver mumbled.

Dean pressed his lips tightly together and hid his face in Cas' hair, desperately trying not to laugh at Oliver's expense. Jesus, the guy was crushing on Jess within the space of five seconds. Not that Dean blamed him for that, he was a hormonal teenager and Jess was a beautiful girl with an equally, if not more, beautiful personality to match. But it was kind of adorable to see Oliver, who was usually loud and had a comeback for everything, get tongue tied in the presence of a cute girl.

Cas seemed just as quietly amused, eyes watching Oliver avert his gaze with still red cheeks. Cas looked up at Dean and smiled knowingly, accepting the quick kiss on the lips.

"Shall we go eat?" Mary offered, probably noting the fact that Oliver was turning redder and redder as time passed.

"Yep, let's go," Dean agreed.

As soon as Oliver took a bite of his chicken burger, he declared that Mary's food was much better than her son's. Dean didn't mind that one bit though, his mother's cooking _was _better than his seeing as she'd been the one to teach him in the first place.

Dean was just immensely grateful that his mother had took his advice and there was no alcohol present. It was normal for them to have a few beers passed around if the feeling overtook them, but Dean had specifically asked Mary not to this time. It wasn't that Oliver's mother was an alcoholic, but Oliver had been exposed to people getting drunk from a young age. Dean knew that Oliver wouldn't really have minded if there _was _alcohol present, but he also knew that, especially on their first family meeting, it would make Olly more comfortable if alcohol wasn't in the picture.

After mixed conversation, some casual questions directed at Oliver, some talks that didn't focus on him to ensure they didn't make him uncomfortable or feel like he was being put on the spot, the conversation steered to Oliver's adoption.

"So," Sam said once he'd finished his massive bite of green lettuce because the weirdo loved his greens, "How's everything going, with the adoption process-" his gaze steered to Oliver's and worry took over his expression, like he was unsure of whether it was right to talk about it in his presence, "Uh, maybe we can talk about it another time," he finished off, sending apologetic looks to Dean and Cas.

"You can talk about it in front of me," Oliver said around a mouthful of burger, swallowing it down before he added, "Dean and Cas tell me everything, it's fine," he shrugged.

It was true, Dean and Cas made sure to tell Oliver about what was going on. They didn't want to keep anything from him, that wasn't fair and it could actually lead to issues like Oliver thinking something was happening or going to happen when it wasn't. The adoption completely involved him and it didn't even make sense to try and keep any of it a secret.

"Oh, okay," Sam nodded thoughtfully, "So, how is it all going?"

"They're gonna go see my mom tomorrow, y'know, in jail," Oliver replied in a passive tone, "So she can sign her rights away and then Dean and Cas can finally start the adoption process. Which she'll do obviously, because it'll make no difference to her seeing as she's never actually been a mom to me," Oliver stabbed at some lettuce with his fork, "So there's that."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Dean quietly stewed and felt like vomiting at the way Oliver spoke about his mother, how he was basically saying he'd never actually been cared for for fourteen years. Dean obviously already knew how shit Oliver's life had been, but whenever Oliver spoke about it, which he didn't do all the time, it made Dean re-remember. By the paleness of Cas' face, he was feeling the same. Dean's parents looked a mix of horrified and shock, Sam and Jess the same, but they seemed to be hiding it a little better.

Quickly, Oliver realised what he'd said aloud and who he'd said it in front of, and he looked with wide eyes at Cas for help.

A lot of the time, Oliver spoke without thinking about what he was saying. He said things that would make people around him uncomfortable without him realising it would before it came out of his mouth. It wasn't Oliver's fault and in a way, Dean kind of admired the fact that he didn't fine tune himself for other people. But he also knew that sometimes Oliver would inwardly get embarrassed at the fact that he'd said something that he should perhaps not have said around certain people or situations, and Dean wished he could try and soothe the humiliation away from Oliver.

Cas placed a hand on Oliver's shoulder in an effort to appease him, "We're hoping that everything will go well tomorrow so we can carry on with our initial plan. If not," Castiel smiled thinly at the idea of Oliver's mother refusing them, "We'll have to change our plan and it will require extra effort, but we are more than prepared do that."

"Yeah, what he said," Oliver mumbled, eyes on his food.

"We're taking it as it comes," Dean shrugged, giving Oliver a comforting smile to let him know that it was fine, that no one was judging him for what he said or feeling sorry for him. If there was anything that Olly hated the most, it was people thinking he was some sad, sorry, charity case. And Dean knew that his family wouldn't do that, they would privately feel bad that the kid had gone through a shitty time, but they wouldn't flaunt it in front of him and publically pity him.

"Have you thought about what references you're going to have, who you're going to choose?" Sam asked, giving Dean a silent question alongside it, one to ask him whether he should shut up and drop the conversation for Olly's sake or continue.

Dean nodded to let Sam know it was okay; Olly forgot social mishaps pretty quickly and talking about the adoption that didn't involve his mother would distract him, "Yeah," Dean nodded again, "We were thinking Bela-" Dean turned to Cas to tell him to speak up seeing as it was Cas' primary friend and not his.

Castiel finished chewing his bite of food before saying, "She's been my friend for a long time and she's also a colleague of mine. I think the fact that she is also a social worker would be a definite bonus. And I know that she'll write a wonderfully written reference for us."

"Bela definitely has her head screwed on, so I think she'd write something good for you," Sam agreed, keeping his tone polite. Just like Dean, Sam had had his run ins with Bela, but once she'd been introduced as a friend through Cas, Sam and Dean had realised that she was actually fiercely loyal and kind of hilarious. Now, Dean often had coffee meet ups with both Cas and Bela and he surprisingly enjoyed them.

"Yeah," Dean nodded, "And I was thinking maybe Bobby? I mean, he's not technically family so it's not against the policies. But he's known me my whole life and he knows how happy Olly makes me and how we'd be good parents for him," he looked to his left and smiled at Oliver who returned the smile with a nod, "I know he would write a good reference, and he knows Cas really well now too. I don't know, I think we need someone who truly _knows _us to write one. Out of everyone, I think he knows _both _of us well enough to write a good reference."

While Dean had become friends with Bela, it wasn't like he was BFF's with the woman. He didn't meet up with her away from Cas. Bobby, however, had formed a strong bond with Cas over the past six months and even met up with him occasionally outside from Dean. It had made him laugh hysterically when Cas had returned from the first meet up and mumbled that Bobby had threatened physical violence if he ever hurt Dean, even mentions of the guns that Bobby possessed.

"Have you asked him yet?" Mary asked, listening intently into the conversation.

"We're planning on it next time we see him. We're gonna go over to his the start of next week for dinner. Ellen said she was going to make a meal that rivalled yours mom," Dean winked at Mary.

"I'm going so I'll be the judge of that," Oliver piped up, "but I reckon it won't be as good as yours."

Mary beamed and waved her fork at Oliver, "I like you."

Oliver returned the smile, the kind that he tucked his chin down and tried to hide, as if someone would comment on it if he showed it in plain sight.

"Any other references?" Sam asked, because being a lawyer meant he knew a lot about this, a lot more than Dean seeing as the younger brother was more likely to take on family cases.

"Um," Dean swallowed down the last of his chicken burger and moved the remaining salad around his plate, "we have different ideas we're toying around. You've got to have three or four. At one point, we were considering Jo, I mean," he shrugged, "I helped the kid grow up into a half decent person of today's society. And she's became BFF's with Cas," he winked at Cas over Oliver's head, "so she could write something nice about him too."

Jo and Cas' budding friendship had been almost immediate. Honestly, Dean had never thought to pair them up in his head; he'd known that Cas would get along with his friends but he didn't think that out of everyone, he would become so close to Jo. Not that Dean was complaining, Jo was like a sister to Dean and Cas getting along with her was fucking fantastic.

Cas often went shopping with Jo or went out on coffee 'dates' with her, and of course Jo visited them at their house a lot of the time too, stealing their food with a massive, shit eating grin on her face.

"Who else?" John asked, surprisingly looking interested in the subject. Dean had thought he wouldn't care seeing as he wasn't exactly supporting the whole adoption idea. Maybe he'd just changed his mind… Or maybe he was flitting around the subject of adoption to try and figure out whether Dean and Cas were going to epically and heartbreakingly fail at all of this and John would no longer have to worry about Dean signing his life away. Now Dean knew that his father could be heavy handed sometimes but he wasn't _that _cruel.

"Victor?" Dean bit his top lip, teeth gnawing into the skin nervously, "We thought he could be a possibility seeing as he's in the police force, it would showcase good things I guess if one of our references was in the freaking FBI. But," he grimaced, "he doesn't know Cas as much as Jo does."

"There are lots of things to think about," Cas said.

"Well," Jess smiled supportively, "you have a little while to figure it out, right?"

Dean nodded, "I guess so," he mumbled, "Not Balthazar though."

"No, not Balthazar," Castiel agreed, amusement on his features. Before Dean and Balthazar met, Castiel had pre-warned Dean that he knew he wasn't going to like Cas' friend. He'd kept on saying that Balthazar wasn't Dean's 'cup of tea' and that he doubted they would meld together well. Just like most of the time, Cas was right. In Dean's eyes, Balthazar was a cocky dickface who needed to keep his stupid, smarmy opinions to himself. Apparently the feeling was mutual because Balthazar hadn't said anything nice about Dean either. The only reason Dean forced himself to be around his presence was for Cas' sake, who seemed quietly amused and part baffled at the weird sense of rivalry between the pair.

Oliver piped up, "Can't I be a reference?"

Everyone's attention swiftly turned to Oliver, who quickly turned his own gaze to Dean's so he wouldn't have to look at everyone else who was staring at him; Oliver didn't like to be centre of attention.

"What?" Dean said slowly.

"Well," Oliver licked his lips, looking from Dean to Cas and back again, promptly ignoring the fact that other people were in the room for a moment, "the whole point of a reference is for them to say how great you two would be as parents for me, right? And I think the best person who can explain that would be me, don't you think?" he rolled it of the tongue slowly, like it was obvious and everyone else was being stupid for not thinking about it before now.

"I don't-" Dean shook his head and looked over to Cas, "Is that allowed?" Dean asked. While he was a lawyer and he'd been reading up on everything that was to do with adoption the past few weeks, he didn't know all the ins and outs about it. He didn't often do any family kind of issues in courts so the area was a little blind to him, especially the idea of the possibly adopted kid writing a reference.

"Well, you can always try," Sam offered, "if you have three other references it should be okay. They can't exactly crucify you for letting the kid you want to adopt write a reference saying that they want to be adopted."

"I'm assuming that would be a good thing rather than a bad thing," Mary added with a helpful smile.

"So," Oliver looked eagerly at Cas, "Can I write one?"

Castiel blinked, gave one quick glance at Dean before saying, "I don't see why not."

"Okay," Olly nodded, looking surprisingly excited at the prospect.

"Well, okay then," Dean patted Oliver's shoulder, "I guess that's one reference down, only three more to go."

After they were all finished with their meal, they moved to the sitting room. Oliver sat squashed on the one couch with Dean and Cas, Cas having to half sit on Dean for them to all fit. It was normally a squeeze when Oliver wasn't there, so it was bearing on stifling when all seven of them were in the one room at the Winchester residence. None of them minded though as they all settled, Mary's eyes twinkling as she stood up. As soon as Dean saw the smile that was playing on her face, he knew he was in for some teasing. He, of course, was right. Baby photos were suddenly passed around, Mary apparently wanting to embarrass her son as much as possible in front of Oliver.

At each photo, Dean could see the ammunition it was giving Oliver, especially the photos of Dean having his curtains haircut. _Everyone _had had that hair cut back in the day, but it still made Olly snigger childishly as he looked through all the photos with grabby hands.

When Dean made the excuse to go get everyone drinks to try and hide away from the embarrassment, he was surprised to find Jess follow him into the kitchen only a moment later.

"Hey," Dean smiled, stirring cups of coffee, "Had enough of looking at embarrassing baby photos of me and Sam?"

"I don't think I'll ever have had enough of that," Jess teased, some of her blonde hair that had fallen out of the loose bun swishing from side to side as she giggled, "Sam was a cutie."

"Hmm," Dean made no further comment, though he was smiling and rolling his eyes.

Jess reached into the fridge to grab a cool can of cola, probably something for Olly- he must have asked for it after Dean had taken everyone's orders, "Olly's a good kid," Jess smiled, voice genuine.

Dean's whole body warmed at the compliment, though it wasn't even being said about him; he guessed that was what it was like to be a parent, their accomplishments were your own too, "Yeah, he really is," he glanced behind him to Jess, "He likes you," he waggled his eyebrows, "think he's got a bit of a crush."

"Well," Jess flipped her hair jokingly, which would have worked better if it was all down, "Who can blame him?"

"Well, I was going to say that I think we need to take him to the opticians, but okay," Dean laughed when Jess reached over and slapped him on the shoulder.

"Seriously though, "Jess smiled warmly, "I can see how happy you and Cas make him," she tapped the can, condensation already rolling off it. She looked at him for a moment and then added, "How happy they make you too."

Dean nodded and averted his gaze, still not quite comfortable with talking about his feelings so openly. He'd gotten a lot better at it, especially since he'd been trying to get Oliver to come out of his own shell too. But still, Dean sometimes had to take a step back and not delve too deep.

"I'm the happiest I've ever been," Dean admitted quietly, keeping his gaze firmly on the hot drinks in front of him.

Even though he wasn't looking at her, he felt Jess smile, "Yeah, you can tell. I've-" she paused for a moment, "I've known you for a long time now, and-" she paused again, like she was unsure of whether to say what she planned. While Dean and Jess had always had a fucking _great _relationship, that also meant that sometimes Jess stepped back to give Dean space because she knew Dean perhaps a little _too _well and knew that holding hands and singing kumbaya wasn't really his thing.

"What?" Dean turned to look at her, because he wanted her to finish. Jess was important in his life and if she felt the need to say something, she should definitely say it. And truthfully, Dean was kind of intrigued as to what she was going to say anyway.

Jess smiled softly, the smile that often reminded Dean of his mother, the warmth behind it that made you feel like everything was going to be okay, "it always felt like you were missing something," she explained, "Turns out, those two in there were what you were missing all along."

Dean felt his throat constrict embarrassingly as he agreed, "I think you're right."

"That's 'cause I'm always right," Jess grinned, turning the conversation back to light-heartedness.

"Not really," Dean shook his head, avoiding another playful slap on the arm with a yelp, "Now come on, we best get these drinks in there, else people are going to start complaining."

"You mean Cas is going to start complaining?" Jess arched an eyebrow, grabbing half of the mugs.

"Well," Dean half shrugged, "Yeah."

"God, you are so whipped Dean," Jess laughed.

"So what," Dean challenged, "I can be whipped if I want to be," he winked lewdly, waggling his eyebrows exaggeratedly afterwards.

"God Dean, can you make it through a conversation without being gross?" Jess groaned, keeping the door open with her hip to let Dean pass through first, "Who would have thought that you would have a kid before me and Sam?" she rolled he eyes teasingly.

"To be honest, I'm kinda surprised too," Dean said, not joking this time. Out of Dean and Sam getting a kid first, Dean would have bet his whole entire savings on Sam being a father before him. A year ago, Dean wouldn't have even thought he'd be happily living with his boyfriend, let alone having a teenage child looking up to him.

"Depending on how long the adoption process takes you guys, we might beat you to it, you never know," Jess shrugged casually and then instantly widened her eyes.

"Wait," Dean stopped walking, "Are you guys trying? To have a baby?"

"Shit," Jess winced, "I promised Sam not to say anything to anyone just yet."

Dean looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to carry on speaking.

"I don't know," Jess shrugged as nonchalantly as she possibly could at this very moment, which was very little, "We're not actively trying?" she smiled sheepishly, "But we're kind of in the frame of mind that if it happens, it happens. We're not doing the whole scheduling our night time activities or any of that kind of stuff. That's why we wasn't going to say anything, because we're not sure whether it's going to happen straight away. And we didn't want to tell everyone and then for nothing to happen for so many months or even over a year."

"Okay, I get that," Dean couldn't help but grin at the prospect of becoming an uncle; jesus, in one year he could become both a father _and _an uncle, who would have fucking guessed that, "I get why you didn't say anything. But I'm totally going to make loads of mentions of babies in front of Sam until he cracks and tells me."

"Dean, that's awful," Jess shook her head, though she was fighting back a smile, "Twenty bucks says that he won't crack until at least two weeks."

"Deal," Dean lightly nudged her side with his elbow, "But you overestimate him and underestimate me, I'll crack him within a week, trust me."

"We shall see," Jess sang brightly before walking into the busy sitting room.

They stayed for another hour and then it was time to take Oliver back to his foster home, which was something that Dean definitely wouldn't miss if they were accepted in adopting him. Because of the rush, Dean didn't quite manage to speak privately to Mary or John, nor Sam, about what they thought of Oliver. More importantly, he never got to ask his father to see whether he was now supportive of Dean's adoption attempts. He hoped he was, he hoped more than anything that he'd realised how happy Oliver made Dean and Cas and that it would be so fucking great for Dean to have his own family.

"See," Dean looked at the back of the car where Oliver was smiling, "That wasn't so bad was it?"

"No," Olly looked slightly mortified at the fact that he was ever nervous in the first place, "It was good. Your family is nice," he clicked his seatbelt shut, "Like what a family should be."

Dean and Cas shared a worried look, that their family night had somehow turned into Oliver thinking about the fact that he hadn't had much of a family for the first fourteen years of his life.

"No," Oliver must have noticed their faces because he quickly backtracked, "I'm not throwing a pity party or anything, I'm just saying that your family's what a family should be; that's all. I like them," he shrugged.

"Okay," Dean nodded, relaxing as he started up the car.

"You-" Castiel smiled, though his eyes seemed to scream cautious, "I'd like you to meet my family too Oliver."

"Yeah, okay," Oliver nodded, a lot more enthusiastic than he probably would have been a few hours ago. It seemed that meeting Dean's side of the family had calmed his nerves about the whole thing.

"Though," Castiel fiddled with his wrists, gaze down, "I don't have much of family compared to Dean."

"Cas," Dean started to say, biting his bottom lip as he blindly reached over and grabbed Cas' hand. What Cas was saying was bullshit; sure, he didn't have much of family growing up but now he was part of Dean's family, who loved him more than Dean could have imagined.

"I don't care how much of a family you have," Oliver interrupted, face and voice serious, "Anyway, with what you've told me about your family, I wouldn't want to meet most of them anyway," he folded his arms with a huff.

Cas smiled tightly, obviously unsure of how to answer. Early into their interactions, Cas had told Oliver about his own childhood struggles. It was probably why Oliver had bonded so closely to Cas so quickly, because he knew that he _understood, _even just a little bit.

"Seriously," Oliver continued, obviously taking the silence as something to be filled, "I'm not gonna like you any less than Dean just because you don't have a family to show me. If that was how it worked, you guys would never have come back to visit me, would you?" he raised a dark eyebrow, "Besides," he looked out the window to his right so he wouldn't have to see them as he mumbled, voice self-conscious and small, "we're a family, right?" he snapped his gaze to Cas after a moment, "That's all I need from you Cas, nothing else."

"Okay," Castiel nodded, smile more genuine.

"That doesn't mean I'm not happy to meet your guys' family, well the nicer parts of them anyway," Oliver commented and Dean could tell he had as much of a problem with the shitty parts of Cas' family as Dean did, "Today was good, meeting your family," he nodded at Dean, "but don't feel like it's the end of the world or anything if you don't have much of a family to show me."

"I do-" Castiel swallowed and if one of his hands weren't being held by Dean's, Dean knew he would be fidgeting again, "I do have my sister- Anna. I want you to meet her. She actually has nearly finished her volunteering and she should be back in the country very soon."

"Seriously?" Dean asked; this was news to him as well as Oliver.

"Yes," Castiel smiled broadly, "And she very much wants to meet both of you."

"Awesome," Dean grinned, happy that he was _finally _going to meet the one member of Cas' family that was important to him and was still a fixture in his life. Dean wanted to be able to show Anna, the person who was most important to Cas before Oliver came alone, that he was good for Cas, that he made him happy. It was fucking important that Dean got the approval from Anna, _really _important.

"She's your only sister, right?" Oliver asked, "All the rest are brothers?"

"Yes," Castiel agreed, voice strained.

"Okay," Oliver turned his attention to Dean, "And you haven't met her either?"

"Nope," Dean shook his head, "She's been too busy being an outstanding citizen across the world," he squeezed Cas' hand.

"So you're gonna have to try and persuade her to like you too," Olly pointed out.

"Neither of you will have to persuade her to do anything," Cas said, looking like he was a little more comfortable now they were focusing the conversation on just Anna rather than his whole family, "She will love you both."

"Here's hoping," Olly mumbled, falling back onto his seat. Silently, Dean hoped along with him.

It was quiet for a moment, Oliver getting more and more melancholic the closer to his foster home they got. This action by Oliver was a constant thing and no matter what Dean or Cas did, they knew they wouldn't be able to cure Oliver of getting disheartened when they dropped him off until they adopted him. Finally, the downturn of Oliver's mouth and the strengthening of his jaw would be gone and they would never have to say goodbye to him like this again.

"So," Oliver spoke up when they were only a few minutes off from their destination, "It's okay that I write a reference," his voice was quiet, uncomfortable, "right?"

"Yeah," Dean was surprised at the change of conversation.

"'Kay," Olly shrugged, "Was just making sure."

"From what I can see, I don't think it would be a problem," Castiel added with a supportive smile.

"Okay, good," Oliver swiped at his bottom lip with the back of his hand, "Just, um, don't expect it to be amazingly written or anything, I'm not the next greatest J K Rowling or whatever."

"Oliver," Castiel frowned, "Just write what you want to write, don't worry about it sounding a particular way. We don't want a reference from you that's not actually your words, do you understand?"

"Yeah," Olly swallowed audibly, "Okay."

"Anyway," Dean said, parking the car, "The stuff I've read what you've written is good, don't sell yourself short."

"Dean has a very good point," Cas tipped his head to the side.

"Yeah, okay," Oliver rolled his eyes like they were being dumb, "I should go in," he gestured to his foster home with his thumb, "I have homework to do and I want to do most of it before the weekend, but I guess I can do some tomorrow when you guys are busy," he sighed like the prospect of homework was the worst thing in the entire world. In a teenage world, Dean supposed it kind of was. It had been a hard battle to try and get Oliver to see the light and actually do his homework. While he hated doing it, most of the time he actually _did _it, a lot of the time because if he didn't, Dean and Cas made him do it when they were with him which cut into their 'fun time' together.

Another thing Dean was proud of was that Oliver now frequently went to school and Cas hadn't heard any complaints from his foster parents about him skipping at any point. Even more importantly, Oliver had made friends within school, friends that weren't bad influences or bullies, but decent kids instead. The boy that Dean had first met in his office because his mom was going to jail had come in leaps and bounds since then, and Dean couldn't be prouder.

"Um," Oliver pressed his lips together so hard he drained the blood from them, "Good luck with my mom tomorrow I guess."

Dean's stomach fluttered, "Yeah," he tried to smile comfortingly but he wasn't sure he quite managed it, "It'll go okay, I'm sure it will."

"We will let you know as soon as possible what happened," Castiel said, his head more in the game than Dean's.

"Okay," Oliver rolled his shoulders and then jumped out of the car, hands in his pockets as he trailed down to his foster home where no one in particular was waiting for him to return.

"God," Dean kept his gaze on Oliver until he disappeared, "I hope tomorrow goes well."

Cas squeezed his hand, thumb making small circular movements against Dean's skin as if to try and give him some ease, "As do I," he whispered.


	8. Prison Ain't No Fun

_a/n: warnings for mentions of drugs, child neglect/abuse and homophobic remarks_

Prison Ain't No Fun

In Dean's profession, he was used to prison. The stale buildings, the unwavering guard's faces as they suspiciously looked at everyone no matter whether you were a prisoner or not, like they were silently judging you for choosing to come to a place like this if you weren't forced or being paid to. No matter where Dean went in America, all the prisons were the same- lifeless and imposing, as if they were about to suck everything out of you just for being there.

Unlike Dean, Castiel wasn't used to any of this. He'd looked like he was about to vomit as they entered the building, eyes wide as he was patted down by security. Even now, Cas looked terrified as they sat in the visitors room with a mixture of people, some with tear stains on their cheeks, others worriedly biting their chapped bottom lip,a few leaning back on their chair flippantly like they were used to being here by now.

Cas' hands were fidgeting a mile a minute and he kept nervously fiddling with the cuffs of his plain black jacket, bottom lip jutted back so he could chew on the skin.

"Cas," Dean reached over and stilled Cas' hand.

Wide blue eyes focused on him, eyes that signalled that Cas was on the verge of a breakdown, "What?" he asked, trying to keep his voice its usual calm and gravelly tone, though it came out strained and uncomfortable.

Dean squeezed Cas' hand and attempted to sound soothing, "Relax baby."

It didn't quite take the effect that Dean had intended because Cas, probably through nerves as he wasn't usually the one for backtalk unless he was tired, retaliated, "Dean," he frowned in a way that Dean swore he'd caught from Oliver, mouth curving downwards like he was speaking out the obvious and the entire universe was being an idiot, "It's understandable why I'm nervous."

It _was_ understandable, incredibly so. They hadn't rolled into prison for funsies. They'd driven the seventy miles to the dank, soul sucking building so they could somehow convince Carla Mulligan to sign her parental rights away. Just like that. Yeah, like things were going to be that easy. Dean was surprised that they both weren't currently barfing into little paper bags in terror at what they were going to try and attempt to do.

"Hey," Dean squeezed Cas' hand again as he swiftly turned the attention onto himself, hoping it would somehow make Cas feel better when he realised that he shouldn't be the one to be so nervous out of the two of them, "If anyone should be nervous right now, it should be me. I'm the reason that she's probably going to say no and tell us to fuck off seeing as I was the one who sent her to fucking jail," he winced at the end of the sentence.

When Dean had first got the visiting order to see Carla Mulligan, he'd actually told Cas that it might be a good idea for Cas to go without him. Of course, Cas had refused that notion, stating that they would be accepted together, or not at all. Maddeningly, Cas had been right, but it didn't make Dean feel any less like this was going to be a fucking disaster. Because who the fuck would sign their parental rights away so the dude that had helped send them to jail would be able to adopt the kid? No one, that's who.

"No," Castiel corrected and again, Dean's attempts at trying to soothe Cas' worries just seemed to upset Cas even further, "She sent herself to jail."

Dean shook his head, head thumping painfully, "I don't think she's going to see it that way Cas."

Cas surprised Dean by abandoning Dean's hand in favour of cupping his face instead, "Whatever happens," Cas said calmly, in the tone of voice that Dean always honed in on when he was having a bad time because it helped him relax and realise everything wasn't as terrible as he felt, "We don't blame each other," he added after a moment, a knowing look on his face, "or_ ourselves," _he looked sad at the fact that he would have to add that but Dean tried not to focus on that too much; he was getting better at not self-deprecating but they both knew that he wasn't quite over it yet. It would probably always be there in some manner. Dean was just terribly fucking glad that Cas hadn't got fed up of it by now and instead just said the right things to get Dean out of his occasional funk.

"If this doesn't go well-" Castiel paused to collect himself, "If this doesn't go well, you know it's not the end for us Dean."

"Yeah I know," Dean agreed, adding with a coy smile, "Maybe you should listen to your own advice though. And _relax_."

"Perhaps," Cas huffed with a smile. Because Dean could never resist that face of Cas', he leant forward and pressed a kiss to him on the forehead. Castiel exhaled into the touch, body visibly relaxing. Their moment was cut shut, however, when the bell rang out and the prisoners started swarming into the visitor room.

Seven months after seeing her in the flesh, Carla didn't look much different to that time besides being a bit more unkempt, a side effect of being in jail. Oliver's father must have had strong genes because Oliver didn't much look like his mother, he had inherited her dark hair and chin and that was it.

Carla Mulligan's black hair was greying at the roots and she looked older than her age, the wrinkle between her brows deeply set into the skin. Green eyes bore into them as she made her way to the table, her thin arms swinging as she walked purposefully. Even just looking at her, Dean could sense the self-entitlement she had. He recalled how she'd acted throughout the trial, not a care in the world even when the sentence had been announced.

A hand squeezed Dean's as tight as could be as Carla dropped down onto her seat, leaning back with crossed arms as she stared at them both. Again, her whole body language screamed that she didn't care, that this was yet another chore she had to deal with.

"Who the fuck are you and why they fuck do you want to see me?" she asked harshly. Her voice was similar to Oliver's, the same lilt, though hers was rougher around the edges. While Oliver had learnt to laugh over the past few months, Dean struggled to come up with a scenario of Carla Mulligan laughing about something that didn't include mocking someone.

It was Dean's turn to squeeze Cas' hand tightly, doing his best to keep his cool. They weren't even five seconds into the conversation and he was already struggling.

"I'm Castiel Novak," Castiel replied, voice calm and collected, "and this-" he flashed a look at Dean, a silent check to see how Dean was doing, "this is Dean Winchester," he smiled cautiously at Carla, though it seemed to be difficult for him to do. They both knew what this woman had done to Oliver, how she had made him feel worthless and second best; it was difficult to keep it together while being in the same room as her.

Carla huffed exasperatedly, "Names don't mean shit to me."

Dean forced himself to speak without any malice in his tone, "We're here about your son," he offered.

That only seemed to annoy Carla further as she rolled her shoulders, "Oh for fucks sake, he's already got himself into fucking trouble hasn't he?" she shook her head, but she didn't seem surprised, "Well, whatever he's done, I'm in jail, can't do much from here," she licked her lips before she pressed them together, "And if he's in trouble, that's on him anyway, he'll have to deal with it himself like a big boy," she remarked, like she was talking about a stranger, not her own son.

There was silence for a moment before Castiel replied, "No," he swallowed, "he's not in any trouble."

"No?" Carla raised her thin eyebrows, looking like she didn't believe them, "Well, what are you doing here then?"

"I'm your son's social worker," Castiel replied.

Carla appeared bemused by the news, "And?"

Castiel, god bless his heart, carried on trying to talk normally, "Over the past six months, we've gotten to know Oliver-"

Carla's eyes quickly moved to rake over Dean, "If you're his social worker," she tipped her head to Cas but didn't take her gaze from Dean, "who the fuck are you?"

Dean didn't know how to reply but Castiel did it for him, saying with a comforting squeeze of Dean's hand, "My partner."

"Oh," her eyebrows shot up, "so that's how it is. Gotta say, couldn't tell by looking at ya," her lips stretched into a mocking grin, "But the more I do, I think I can see it. I would have known straight away but you're hiding your limp wrists under the table," she laughed, like it was the most hilarious of jokes and not actually maddeningly offensive.

"Anyway," Castiel swallowed, obviously struggling by now, "back to Oliver-"

"Do I know you?" Carla interrupted, eyes narrowing at Dean.

Dean knew what was about to happen when he opened his mouth and answered, but he couldn't lie; even if she was despicable in Dean's eyes, she was still Oliver's mother and they couldn't deceive her to get what they wanted, "Yes."

Her eyes widened when she realised who he was and she pointed at him, "You're the lawyer from my case. The one who fucking tried to make the judge give me more years," he voice rose but she stopped herself from shouting because she knew that would cause the guards to come over "What did you say about me?" she smiled bitterly, "That I was unapologetic of my behaviour and I needed to be used as an example to society, that if you break the law, you should do your fucking time. You really wanted me to go to jail, didn't you?"

Dean pressed his lips together as he took a deep breath in and out before he answered her question, knowing that getting irate would do him and Cas no favours, "I was just doing my job."

She snorted and looked at Castiel, acting like Dean didn't exist as she demanded, "What are you doing with a lawyer? They have no fucking morals."

Castiel opened his mouth to try and appease the situation, or to tell her to shut up, Dean didn't know because he interrupted him before he could start to speak, "I didn't lie once in that court case," Dean raised his shoulders up defensively, "you know that."

Carla, again, chose to ignore him as she sat up to rest her elbows on the table between them, "So," she grinned, with undertones of malice, "the guy that's the social worker of my kid," she pointed at Cas and then at Dean, "is hooking up with the lawyer who sent me down. Huh. Guess you have me to thank for getting you two fags together," her grin widened and then she laughed again, an ugly laugh that made Dean want to curl up next to Cas to hide away from it. Not to mention the fact that Dean had to try his best not wince at the word that had once plagued him every minute of the day

"More like we have your son to thank," Dean couldn't help but reply, smiling broadly, telling himself it was best to ignore the hate, even if it wasn't intended hate. Carla seemed to find it hilarious to use that word, but Dean was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that she didn't realise the horrible connotations interlaced within it. Perhaps she thought it was a fun term that was okay to call people like Dean, maybe she once had a gay friend who had been okay with it and thought it was just as amusing as Carla did. Dean was willing to give her that leniency because she was Oliver's mother and he didn't want to think that Oliver had had to grow up with a homophobic mother as well as a terrible one.

Her eyes snapped over to Dean, "What did you fucking say?"

Castiel seemed unperturbed at Carla's slur, either because he was being very good at hiding his hurt or quite simply because it was water off a ducks back to him, Dean wasn't sure. Cas, however, did seem to realise Dean was getting increasingly upset because his thumb started making small soothing motions against Dean's hand.

"As I was trying to say earlier," Castiel said calmly, his thumb still circling against Dean's skin, "we have both gotten to know your son over the past few months. He's under my care as a social worker and we see him as-" he faltered for a moment, "as someone much more than that. He's with a foster family but we have taken it upon ourselves to do our best to take care of him when we can, to try and make him feel wanted."

The news didn't pacify Carla as it should seeing as they were talking about her son "Well good for him," she spit, "I'm happy that he's enjoying himself so fucking much."

By this time, Dean was struggling to even be in the same room as the woman. She had made Oliver feel worthless, had neglected him his entire fucking life and now, when she was in front of two people who were telling her that they were ensuring that her son was okay, she didn't seem the least bit bothered.

Well, Dean decided that there was no point pussy footing around it all and he announced, gripping Cas' hand as his anchor, "We want to adopt your son."

Carla's gaze snapped to Dean and for a very short moment, she was speechless, "You want to what?"

Castiel looked at Dean with wide eyes, probably silently asking him why he had blurted it out the way he did, but Cas made no facial expression to say that he disapproved. He turned his gaze back to Carla and replied, hand holding Dean's rightly, "We want to adopt him."

"You want to adopt my kid?" Carla questioned, her arms crossing on the table and Dean saw the way her dirty fingernails dug into her skin.

Castiel swallowed, "Yes."

She was taken aback for a moment and Dean could tell that the thought of adoption had never even came across her mind, "And he wants you to adopt him?" she raised an eyebrow, sounding like she didn't believe for one second that her son would want that, "Oliver wants you two to adopt him?"

"Yes," Castiel replied, voice still calm as ever which Dean had to mentally applaud him for, "We wouldn't be considering the idea if he didn't want this."

Carla acted like that was the biggest joke she'd heard in years and she said gleefully, "Who would have thought that my Oliver always wanted some nice gay daddies?"

Both Cas and Dean's jobs required them to keep their cool even if they were confronted with the most horrific of things, but hearing someone talk shit about a kid Dean loved? About a kid who deserved so much better? Dean was having difficulty keeping it together.

"No," Dean gritted through his teeth, "what Oliver has always wanted is parents who actually give a damn about him."

The sentence angered Carla, her eyes flashing with fury as she snapped back, voice just low enough to not make the guards look over, "I give a damn."

Sometimes, Dean met clients in his line of work who had gone down the wrong track and had ended up with a conviction charge that threatened to ruin their life. Dean knew that going against the law wasn't cut and dry, not anymore at least. Some people turned to crime to survive, because there was no other way to put food on the table.

Oliver's mother hadn't had a bad life before she started dealing out drugs like they were candy. She'd had a good enough job that paid well to feed her and her son and even give her extra money on the side. She'd had a house that sure, wasn't in the best neighbourhood, but it was a hell of a lot better than what other people had. She'd had a wonderful fucking kid, which should have pushed her conscience into making good decisions for the sake of him. None of those things had stopped her from deciding that hanging out with drug dealers, and subsequently dating one, would be a fun idea, nor did it stop her from dealing drugs out to anyone who wanted them. They could never prove that she'd been dealing to minors but Dean was pretty sure that that was what she was doing, Oliver had implied as much. This wasn't a woman who had been forced into it; she didn't have a knife to her throat or stacks of bills on the table. She was simply a woman who had been bored and decided that drug dealing was the new in thing, seeing as, to quote her, 'everyone was doing it'.

If Carla had been doing it for the money, hard pressed and desperate to provide for her kid, Dean would have felt differently. If she had shown even a little bit of remorse when she was in court, Dean would have felt the tiniest bit sympathetic towards her and her choices. Most of all, if she had shown any indication, any at all, at worrying for her child who would be left alone when she went to jail, Dean would have thought it would be a possibility that she was a woman who didn't know how to be a mother but she had, in fact, cared.

Carla Mulligan had done none of those things. She hadn't shown regret, she hadn't hinted towards caring about her son's wellbeing. And as the witness statement from her son had been read out in court, Oliver's words being spoken out in front of her, she hadn't even blinked. Not when the judge had read out how Oliver had had to iron and wash his own clothes else he would have gone to school dirty and rumpled, how he'd had to make his own meals each dinner time, how some nights he'd gone to bed with no one else in the home, not even knowing where his mother was and whether she would be back this time.

She simply hadn't cared.

"Sure you do," Dean smiled bitterly.

"Ohh," Carla cooed unsympathetically, "I bet he's been giving you some sad fucking sob stories, huh? He was always good at that. Always fails to mention the fact that he never fucking helped me around the house like I asked him to. He was never nice and respectful to my friends who I brought over, he'd talk back at them and be a right little shit."

Dean shook his head sadly, heart right in his throat at the fact that Oliver spent fourteen years of his life in the care of this woman, "He's just a kid. A kid who deserved better."

"Yeah, okay," she rolled her eyes.

It was Castiel's turn to speak, "I'm going to cut to the chase to make things easier for us all," he pulled Dean's hand onto his lap so he could cover it with both of his hands, "We want to adopt Oliver. At the moment, we're unable to because you still hold parental rights, even though you will be likely to be incarcerated until Oliver becomes an adult in the court of law. Currently he's only allowed to be fostered. What we would like is for you to sign your parental rights away. If you say no, we can take you to the courts and argue that you are unfit to be responsible for Oliver. Now," he was holding Dean's hand so tightly, Dean was actually starting to wonder whether he was cutting off the blood supply and Dean's hand was about to fall off, "Dean here is a lawyer, so I think it would be highly unlikely that you would win," he added with a tight voice, "Especially as Oliver wants us to adopt him."

Dean knew that Cas could be a ball of fury if he wanted to be, quiet and bubbling under the skin, the way he had come home a few times when he'd had a particularly rough day at work. Dean also knew that, unlike Dean a lot of the time, Cas could _control _it.

"If you do care for your son like you say you do, if you care for him even by the smallest of amounts, you will consider this," Castiel continued, Carla watching him with narrowed eyes, "With us, Oliver will be safe and he will be given everything he needs," Castiel's voice started to become scratchy but he forced himself to continue, "And we will do everything that is possible to ensure that he is happy. We're not strangers to him, he's known us for over half a year and he wants to be a part of our family. And we want that more than anything too. So please-" he swallowed, voice cracking and eyes beginning to blur with tears, "just _please- _consider it."

"Please," Dean added, uncaring that he was begging with tears in his eyes. He didn't care if he had to get down on his knees and beg until his voice was hoarse, he'd do that for Oliver. He'd do fucking anything to make Carla Mulligan say yes, even if it meant having to share a proper conversation with the vile woman. He literally had no qualms about doing a_nything._

Silence overtook them for a moment, Carla watching both of them, face unreadable. Dean felt like he was about to throw up and Cas looked like he was about to faint or crush the bones in Dean's hand any second.

"If I sign my rights away," Carla licked her lips, "does that mean I don't have to fucking bother with him ever again?"

Dean looked at Cas and then back at Carla, impatiently saying, "Yes."

Carla grinned, teeth and gums, "Well hand me the fucking papers then."

Dean ignored the sickness in his gut at that fact that Carla seemed perfectly happy not to see her son ever again. Because that was actually going to work in his favour this time around. In a weird and fucking horrible way, Carla Mulligan not giving a shit about her son meant that Dean and Cas were going to be able to adopt Oliver and give him the best life possible.

For a moment, Castiel looked bewildered and confused but then he was set in motion, grabbing his briefcase from the floor and pulling out all of the papers, quickly showing Carla which places she should sign her name. Dean watched silently, quickly going back to grabbing Cas' hand, hoping that there would be enough time for Carla to sign the documents before the guard called the session to an end.

"Never really wanted a son anyway," Carla said as she scribbled her name, adding offhandedly, "Looks like he never really wanted a mother either."

Dean didn't know what to say to that so he kept quiet, because he knew that if he opened his mouth it was going to be an insult. They were getting what they wanted, Carla was signing her rights away, but Dean had a feeling that if he made one bad step, Carla would rip the papers up in pure spite.

The universe apparently loved them today because there was enough time for Carla to sign her rights away to a child that she never really looked after before the guards started ushering the prisoners back into jail.

"Thank you," Castiel said, voice dripping with genuine gratitude as he took the papers from Carla, "We'll take care of him," he promised, Dean nodding in agreement, eyes on the papers that meant they could now have a chance at adopting Oliver.

Carla snorted, "I don't really fucking care what you do."

Dean wondered if deep down, perhaps she did. Maybe she had perfected the act of not caring over the years, a way for her to cope. She could possibly love her son with every fibre of her being but just never shown it, which of course would still mean she didn't deserve Oliver. Caring for someone but not _showing _that you cared was just as bad as not caring at all in Dean's book. But maybe Carla _did _care and that's why she was signing her rights away because she saw something in Dean and Cas that proved that they would be good parents to her son.

Or maybe, just maybe, she was telling the truth and she quite simply didn't care at all. Dean didn't know which was sadder, a woman caring about her son but never knowing how to show it to him, or someone who didn't care one ounce for the boy that she had brought into the world. Whichever one it was didn't change Oliver's upbringing though. It didn't change that at all, so quite honestly, Dean didn't care whether Carla was bothered or not.

As they left, Dean didn't speak to the woman that he doubted he would ever see again. He left Cas to be the one to say goodbye, who did it with a strained voice, proving that Castiel disliked her just as much as Dean did. Cas just had better manners than Dean, that was all. But even he seemed to be struggling not to say anything as Carla stood up to go back to her jail cell.

Once they were out of the strangulating building, neither Castiel nor Dean said anything, not until they were back in the comfort of their car. Right after the car doors were shut, Cas let out a long exhale, moving across the seat so he could pull Dean into a tight embrace, burying his face against Dean's neck.

"That was difficult," Cas mumbled, voice low and tired. It suddenly hit Dean how much Cas had been _trying _in that visitors room. While Dean had hardly spoken apart from to insult Carla, Cas had been sitting there doing his best not to shout at the woman who he knew had done Oliver wrong. If it weren't for Cas keeping control, Dean knew they wouldn't have got the result they did. Throughout the whole fucking thing, Cas must have been itching to scream and shout, to not be polite, but he had kept his cool. And Dean was so fucking grateful that Cas was the way he was.

Dean turned his head to press a kiss to Cas' hair as he wrapped his arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly, "You did so good Cas."

"It didn't feel like it," Castiel murmured, keeping his head slotted between Dean's neck and shoulder, "I was struggling to stay calm enough to get her to sign the papers. If we were in a different situation, that meeting would not have been so amicable, I'm sure," he sighed against Dean's neck.

"Yeah," Dean agreed, resting his chin on the top of Cas' head, "I just-" he bit his bottom lip, "I don't understand how you can bring a kid into this world and then not care about them, not even a tiny bit."

Castiel nuzzled Dean's neck and then moved up to kiss Dean's jaw, "I ask myself that question every time I go to work," he leaned out so he could press a kiss to Dean's mouth before saying with a sad, faraway smile, "And I asked it myself every day as a child."

The words made Dean's heart lurch and it just made him even more upset, "I'm sorry baby," he murmured, cupping Cas' cheek gently.

"No," Cas shook his head, bringing up a hand to cover Dean's, "it's okay," he smiled comfortingly.

"It's not," Dean disagreed, "You had to deal with loads of shit when you were a kid and you've just had to listen to Carla fucking Mulligan," he spit out her name, "prattle on about how she doesn't care about her own son. That couldn't have been easy for you. It's not fucking fair on you."

"Dean," Cas' voice was a gentle lull that always soothed Dean, "it's fine," he said it slowly, genuinely, enough to ease Dean's mind a little, "I've long since learnt how to separate what happens at work and what happened to myself when I was a child," he smiled warmly, though it was a barely there smile, "I wouldn't be able to do this job if I couldn't do that. I'm not upset for myself. I'm just upset about Oliver."

"Me too," Dean sighed, trying not to think about what sort of a life Oliver had had before he was taken into care. He'd read everything about what had happened to the kid because of the court case and Oliver had mentioned other things over the year, but actually seeing Carla face to face again had reminded Dean of what a twisted woman she was. The woman who had said with a straight face that she had never wanted a son had been the sole carer of Oliver once. It was nothing short of a miracle that Oliver was so accepting of Dean and Cas' love when he had been so depraved of it for all of his early years. No wonder it had taken him so long to believe that Dean and Cas weren't going to abandon him, why he had once looked confused when they gave him a compliment or focused their attention on him for good reasons rather than bad.

"You know," Dean said softly, "even if it meant none of us ever meeting each other, if I could go back and make it so Olly had had a great fucking mother who loved him from the get go? I'd do it."

"I would make that same wish," Castiel nodded with a sad smile.

"But we've got to focus on the positives," Dean tried to give an encouraging smile, which turned more genuine as he thought about what had truly just happened in that prison visiting room, "She signed off her rights, it means we can get going with the adoption. And even though it's fourteen years too late, we can make it so Olly finally gets his family," he grinned at the prospect, of being able to pick Oliver up from school and bring him home, to make him dinner and watch tv without having a set time to send him back to his foster family. Oliver would truly have a place to call home, a _permanent _one, with a _permanent _family who loved him with everything they fucking had. The thought was enough to make Dean forget about Carla for a moment, his face breaking into a grin as he imagined them finally becoming a family together.

"Yes," Castiel beamed, looking a lot less tired than he did a moment ago, "We should focus on that."

"Yeah," Dean nodded, reaching forward to press a kiss to Cas' mouth, still not feeling quite himself just yet. Maybe he'd feel better once they'd spoken to Oliver.

Cas gave Dean another kiss before he regarded him closely, "Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Dean pulled a face, "I think we've already gathered that we're both upset about Olly, Cas."

"No," Cas shook his head, "other than that."

"Yeah," Dean threw a puzzled look Cas' way, "I'm fine."

"It's just-" Cas pressed his lips together, like he was unsure of how to word what was going on in his mind, "I saw the way you reacted when Carla- when she made comments about our sexualities."

Dean froze, unable to speak for a moment. Rarely did Dean ever talk about his struggles with coming out, or with the way some people had reacted to it. It was something he hid in a box never to think or talk about, not with anyone at any time. He felt it was better that way, even though it probably _wasn't _better. He rarely even spoke about it to people who he knew were queer, even though he knew they were the people that were most likely to understand. Cas was the only one he really spoke about it to and even that was once in a blue moon because the subject had popped up. Dean had long since learnt how to accept his sexuality, but that didn't mean he was okay with talking about the times that he _wasn't _accepting of it, or about people who weren't okay with it either. He didn't like to focus on the fact that there were people in the world that thought he was going to hell just because he fell in love with dudes as well as girl, that was all.

"Well," Dean scratched his cheek uncomfortably, "She was throwing slurs around all over the fucking place," he scrutinised Cas' face, "Didn't it bother you?"

"No, it doesn't bother me," Castiel explained, "Everything that happened when I was a child, the things that were said to me by my own family, I think-" he tipped his head to the left, "I think it made me become indifferent to anything intolerable or insulting said to me. People can say things about me and it doesn't- it doesn't bother me anymore."

"Oh," Dean bit the inside of his cheek.

Castiel frowned, "That doesn't seem to have appeased you."

"Cas," Dean leant forward to press their foreheads together, "You should never have had to make a defence mechanism in the first place," he tilted his head to kiss the corner of Cas' mouth, smiling against Cas' lips when Cas twisted his head so it resulted in a long, savouring kiss rather than a short one. "You-" Dean mumbled against Cas' lips, "You're the most beautiful person I know."

Cas kissed Dean again, "I love you."

"Love you too," Dean replied without a thought, "Now come on," he moved backwards after he pecked Cas on the lips once more, "let's get out of the prison parking lot and go pick up Olly."

Cas huffed and nodded, body relaxing in the knowledge that they were finally going to get out of here, "Okay."

"Drive away," Dean gestured, lounging back on his chair, wondering whether it would be selfish of him to take a nap on the way back while Cas drove them.

The thought was cut shut when his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. Frowning, Dean pried it out of his jacket, mouth down turning even more when he saw who it was.

"Dad? Hey," Dean said, shrugging at Cas when he looked at him curiously.

"Hey, you're free to talk, right?" John asked.

"Yeah, I'm free," Dean bumped against the window lightly as Cas turned the car around, "What's up? Everything okay?" he gripped the phone tightly, not quite used to his dad making random phone calls for no reason.

"I wanted to see how it went with Oliver's mother," John said, voice a little crackly on the phone, "I checked to see what the visiting times were, I've called at the right time haven't I?"

"Yeah," Dean swallowed, surprised, "You've called at the right time. We've just left."

Of all the people he thought would be calling him to ask him how the visit with Carla had went, John was definitely far, _far _down the list. Honestly, Dean hadn't even thought his father would call at all, let alone be the one to call him _first _out of everyone.

"Oh. Good," John coughed, "Well, how did it go?"

Dean slumped into his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Tiring, it was tiring."

"Oh," John muttered over the phone.

"It's just- being confronted with the woman that neglected and treated Olly like shit. That- that's difficult to do," Dean explained, clasping Cas' hand tightly when it was offered to him on his thigh.

"I can imagine," John said sympathetically through the phone, though his version of sympathy always came with a gruff tone.

"She just didn't care dad," Dean squeezed Cas' hand.

"People like that don't deserve to be parents," John said, voice final on the matter, something that Dean appreciated.

"But," Dean smiled thinly, "We do have some good news. She said yes to signing her rights away, she signed off on all the forms, so we can officially start the adoption process."

"Okay," John replied.

Dean looked over at Cas, who was doing his best to concentrate on driving, "Hey dad?" he bit the inside of his cheek.

"Yeah?"

"You- you ringing me right now, asking me what's going on with Olly?" he swallowed, unsure of whether he wanted to really ask the question, scared of what answer he would get, "Does that- Does that mean you're accepting of it? That you're supporting me? Us? Me and Cas?"

"Look, the way I see it is," John sighed, "Yesterday, you looked happy, the happiest I've ever saw you. Cas looked happy. And that kid looked happy too. What I said before, about me thinking it's too soon, I'm not taking that back. I do think its fast. But, you looked happy. And I think the best thing I can do is support you."

After having an incredibly long morning, the words made Dean nearly choke up and start blubbering, "Yeah," he gulped, feeling way too delicate at the moment to be dealing with this, "Thanks."

"You don't need to thank me. That's what I should have done in the first place," John grunted, "Oliver's a good kid. And he'd be lucky to have you and Cas as his parents. And by the looks of things, you'd be lucky to have him as a son too."

Great, now Dean was crying in the car. Concerned, Cas looked at him, probably considering whether to stop the car. Dean shook his head to let him know everything was alright, mumbling over the phone, "Thanks dad."

"I have to go, I've got to go to the garage, someone's coming to pick up their car. I'll talk to you soon okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Dean nodded, muttering a goodbye before the phone rang up.

"Is everything okay?" Castiel asked, face worried.

"Yeah," Dean smiled thinly, shoulders relaxing, "Everything's definitely okay."

* * *

"Okay," Oliver turned to Dean and Cas as soon as they were through the front door, "now that we're finally here, are you going to tell me what the hell happened with my mom?" he raised an eyebrow, looking very much annoyed at them both.

Dean didn't exactly blame him for that, though they had only done it for Oliver's sake more than their own. Collectively, Dean and Cas had decided that they would explain everything that had happened at the prison to Oliver when they had gotten home, rather than during the car ride from Oliver's foster home to Oliver's (hopefully) future home. They just didn't want to tell him stuff when they were in the car. It felt tacky somehow and they were also privately worried that Oliver might get upset. They didn't exactly want that to happen when they were on a random ass road. It made more sense for them to wait until they got home so they could sit down and have a civilised conversation. Although Oliver most definitely did _not _agree with that prospect.

"Yes," Castiel moved and sat down on one of the couches, Dean following him, "Come and sit down," he gestured for Oliver to sit on the other couch with a tired smile. Dean felt the same; talking to Carla had been an exhausting and infuriating experience and Dean was getting the oncoming of a headache.

"Are you guys okay?" Oliver scrambled onto the couch, knees tucked underneath him, "Did she say anything bad to you?" he gnawed his bottom lip anxiously, obviously already expecting the worst.

Dean aimed for a soothing smile, wrapping his arm around Cas' shoulders to pull him in tight next to him, "Nothing that we can't handle Olly."

"That's a yes then," Oliver exhaled miserably, demanding, "What did she say?" he crossed his arms, giving them an expression that implied that he wanted to know all the gory details. Details that he wasn't going to get from either of them.

"Olly," Dean shook his head, "It doesn't matter what she said about us."

It was true, Dean and Cas were grownups, they could handle things a bitter person was saying to them. Dean knew that it was pointless to tell Olly all the things she'd been saying about their character and relationship; it would only end up hurting Olly in the knowledge that his mother had upset and offended the two people he wanted to adopt him.

"Yeah it does!" Oliver argued loudly, eyebrows furrowing in a way that showed how angry he was.

"Oliver," Castiel spoke up, waiting to get Oliver's full attention before shaking his head just once, a silent question to ask the boy to let it go.

Oliver stared at them both for a moment, obviously trying to figure out whether to push it or not. Maybe it was the way Dean and Cas looked exhausted, maybe Olly didn't really want to find out what horrible things his mother had said, or Oliver just decided that there were more important things to talk about, because he let it go.

"Okay, fine," he replied shortly, still clearly bothered with the idea of his mother being hurtful to Dean and Cas, "What did she say about-" he swallowed loudly, "About signing her rights away? Did she say yes?" at their silent replies he faltered, "Or no?" he added, voice small.

"We spoke with her for quite a while," Castiel started to say, voice a gentle lull, "And she said yes."

"She did?" Oliver's face fixed onto an unreadable expression, looking neither happy nor sad, "She- She signed her rights away?"

"We have the forms to prove it kid," Dean smiled, though it was getting more and more forced by the second. While now having the chance to adopt Oliver was on the cards, the way they had to go about getting it to be a possibility couldn't have been nice for Olly. And because Dean had been worrying so much over getting Carla Mulligan to say yes, he hadn't quite thought about the implications of it all, how Oliver would truly react to it.

"Lemme see," Oliver demanded, standing up and snatching the papers from Castiel's grasp once he had taken them out of his briefcase. His eyes scanned the papers and Dean quickly realised the boy's hands were shaking as he grasped them, "She really signed them," he said flatly, eyes roaming over the text, honing in on the signature that his mother had produced, "I knew she would," he looked down at Cas and Dean who were still sitting down on the couch, "What did she say when you asked her?" his eyes narrowed.

"She was-" Castiel chose his words carefully, "Surprised."

"Did she care?" Oliver asked, hands tightening around the papers, enough to make them start to wrinkle.

"I don't know," Dean replied truthfully, gently reaching up and taking the papers from Oliver's grip, momentarily squeezing the boy's hand as he did it.

Olly laughed bitterly, "That means she didn't."

"No, Olly," Dean stood up, Castiel quickly following, "I _don't know,_" he dropped a hand down onto Oliver's shoulder, squeezing it, wishing that the simple touch could ease every problem from Oliver, "Your mom, she's extremely good at putting up an act, so I have no idea what was going on in that head of hers."

"She didn't care," Oliver half shrugged, saying it like it was the most obvious thing, "She never has, never will," he bit his bottom lip, looking down at the papers in Dean's grip, "I-" his voice broke as he stumbled away from Dean and Cas, "I have to go use the bathroom."

"Olly," Dean tried to call him back but Oliver continued to run up the stairs, Dean and Cas wincing when the bathroom door slammed shut, "Ugh," Dean rubbed his hand over his face tiredly, "Shit," he mumbled, twisting to fall into Cas' arms.

Instinctively, Cas wrapped his arms around Dean's waist, pressing a kiss to Dean's temple, "Just give him a moment Dean, he'll be alright," he murmured.

Dean nodded silently, hiding his face against Cas' neck so he could inhale his scent properly, the smell that Dean now associated with home, "It's just- I hate that we have to fucking hurt and upset him so we can end up making him happy. It shouldn't have to be like that Cas."

"I know," Castiel replied softly, "I know. But we knew this wasn't going to be easy. And Oliver knew that this was going to be difficult too, perhaps not as much as we knew, but he knew. But knowing is different to actually doing it and feeling it in the moment. Yes, this is difficult and Oliver- Oliver is having to deal with a lot of things that he should _never _have to deal with, let alone at the young age he is. But all of this hard work and the difficult times will be worth it, he _knows _that Dean," he pressed a kiss to the top of Dean's head as he rubbed the small of Dean's back, "Everything will be worth it when he is our adopted son."

"Yeah," Dean mumbled an agreement against Cas' skin.

"Let's sit down and wait until he comes back," Castiel offered, smiling softly when Dean tilted his head to kiss Cas on the lips.

"Okay," Dean agreed, "But let's go get some coffee. Maybe it'll give us some energy."

"Yes," Castiel perked up a little at the prospect of coffee, "Let's do that."

Even with the shitty situation, Cas' cute obsession with coffee made Dean snort, "Come on."

It wasn't until they were both sipping their nearly empty coffee cups, back pressed against the kitchen counter as they mumbled half-heartedly to each other, that Oliver reappeared.

It was obvious the boy had been crying, eyes smudged red, his pupils bloodshot as he quietly walked into the room. Like most times that Oliver was upset, he was trying to hide it, face guarded as he stepped into the kitchen, ignoring Cas and Dean's presence and instead bee lining for the fridge.

Dean and Cas shared worried looks. Oliver didn't say anything, sniffing as he rummaged around the contents of the fridge, only speaking to ask, "Do we have any milkshakes left?"

"I think there's one in the back," Dean said uncertainly and jesus, the way his heart literally skipped a beat at the way Oliver used the word 'we'- well, if Dean could bottle that feeling, he knew that their future social worker would sign them as adopted parents immediately because they would be able to realise how much Dean fucking wanted this.

"Oh, found one," Oliver replied, voice still scratchy. He grabbed the milkshake, shaking it in the bottle before taking the top off. As he peeled off the foil cap that was there to stop the milk from spilling, Oliver still didn't look at either of them, keeping his gaze firmly on the drink in his hands.

"Hey," Dean decided to speak up, keeping his voice soft, "C'mere."

Quickly, Oliver's head snapped up and he looked at Dean. Surprised, Dean's eyes widened when he realised that Olly looked _scared. _He didn't look like he was trying to hide the fact that he was upset, he was avoiding looking at them because he was scared to be in a conversation with them for reasons that Dean really couldn't fucking understand.

"Just," Dean gestured, "C'mere. Please?"

Cautiously, like a deer in headlights, Oliver walked up to Dean, making a muffled noise of surprise when Dean brought him into a hug. Instantly, Oliver's body relaxed, all of the tension flowing out of him as he wrapped his arms around Dean's middle.

"You okay?" Dean mumbled, "It's okay if you're not."

Oliver didn't speak for a moment before saying, voice honest, "I'll be okay."

Smiling comfortingly, Dean pulled out of the hug as Oliver did, mussing his hair jokingly.

Batting his hand away, Olly's lips pulled upwards into a smile, "So," Olly sniffed, swiping the back of his hand against his eyes, "You guys can start the adoption process now, right?"

That was a reason to smile and Cas practically beamed; his smile could light up the whole fucking universe if it wanted to, "Yes."

"That's great," Olly returned the smile, though there was something underlain in there that implied that there was something else still on his mind, "Um, me-" he bit his bottom lip, scratching his wrist, "me getting kinda upset because of my mom not caring and signing her rights away, that doesn't, um," he struggled to find words, "that doesn't mean I'm not happy about you guys adopting me. That's what I want the most," he admitted quietly, like even know it was a secret he had to keep close, "and I- I don't want you to think it isn't what I want."

Oh. So that's why Oliver had been so worried about coming face to face with them after his reaction to his mother signing her rights away. He'd thought that Dean and Cas were going to be angry or feel like they weren't what Olly truly wanted or some bullshit. Well, Dean and Cas were going to make sure that concern was quashed right this minute.

"No, we know that Olly," Dean soothed, "You're allowed to be upset about your mom, it's okay. And it's okay for you to be happy about her signing her rights away at the same time," he blindly reached over and grabbed Cas' hand, "It's okay."

Oliver regarded him for a beat, "Right," he said and then added, more sure this time around, "Okay."

"Don't ever feel bad for how you feel," Castiel said gravely; Dean knew he was speaking from experience, "Now," Cas changed the subject, face hinting into a smile, "have you eaten?"

Shoulders relaxing at the fact that the heavy subject was being let go for a moment, Olly smiled, "I had a snack when I was doing my homework, which was really fuck-" his cheeks coloured and he quickly corrected himself before Dean or Cas could say anything, "um- which was really boring by the way."

"Well then, how about we order something in?" Dean prompted, already mentally picturing a nice, juicy hamburger, "and then if there's anything in your homework that you need checking over we can take a look at it. You've brought it with you haven't you?"

"Yeah," Olly nodded; it was customary for them to go through his homework, especially seeing as he'd only just started practising the motion in the past year or so. It helped him to have someone go over it with him, give him a final push to complete it all. It wasn't as difficult to get him to do it now, he did it by himself a lot already, but Dean and Cas doing the final onceover with Olly had stuck.

"Let's go then," Dean said, watching Olly rush back into the living room to grab his backpack that must hold his dreaded homework in. Castiel busied himself with flicking through the takeaway leaflets, showing how well he knew Dean when he picked out a fast food joint that did fucking _heavenly_ burgers.

"Everything's going to work out in the end, right?" Dean asked, searching Cas' face for confirmation.

Looking up, Castiel seemed surprised at the question, "Yes," he said, confused as to why Dean would need to ask. The certainty in his voice, the way Cas' gaze flickered back to the leaflet to signify that was all that was necessary to be said on the matter, the way Cas' free hand drew over to Dean head to give him a gentle scalp and neck massage- all of it told Dean that Cas was right.

Oliver ruined, but also completely enriched the moment, by shouting obnoxiously from the other room, "Can you guys stop being gay in the kitchen and come help me with my stupid homework? Anytime will be good!"


End file.
